Asymmetric spillovers from national innovation systems to knowledge creation processes in their regions

A Knowledge Production Function (KPF) analyzes if the national innovation systems (NIS) generate knowledge spillovers for their regions. Therefore, we include in the traditional KFP some variables that reflect the NIS of each region. In fact, we included 52 national and regional explanatory variables and applied a factorial analysis to reducing them to a few ‘synt-hetic’ ones. Our study offers some evidence on the existence of ‘national’ spillovers and they seems to be asymmetrical. Its intensity is lower in the technologically less developed regions than in those of intermediate technological development and scarcely exists in the case of the more developed or central region