Title: Cultural diversity as a source of regional innovation: evidence from Poland

Authors: Małgorzata Wachowska; Magdalena Homa

Addresses: Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics, University of Wroclaw, Pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland ' Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics, University of Wroclaw, Pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland

Abstract: Using a cross-sectional dataset at the level of patent applications of Polish regions, we investigate whether greater cultural diversity in the structure of inventors increases the quality of inventions they generate. Using the number of citations received by inventions as a proxy for the quality of innovation and the Herfindahl index to measure cultural diversity in a team of inventors, we find that both the mere presence of foreigners in applications as well as greater cultural diversity in a team of inventors, significantly improves the quality of Polish technical solutions. We obtained similar results at the level of Polish regions, although in this case the positive relationship between cultural diversity and innovation was not always significant, and in the case of one voivodeship, cultural diversity even reduced the quality of inventions created there.

Keywords: cultural diversity; human migration; innovation; knowledge flows; inventors; Poland.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTGM.2023.130170

International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, 2023 Vol.17 No.1, pp.1 - 29

Received: 07 Apr 2020
Accepted: 12 Oct 2020
Published online: 05 Apr 2023 *