Testing for Convergence Innovation and Club Clustering in Selected Economies 1995-2017

Innovation convergence is a deterministic process resulting from the change in micro and macro innovation determinants. It is characterized by firms' search for innovative opportunities in other economic sectors and in their development from mining through heavy industry to material processing sector, discovering new technologies that connect individual products to a more integrated global system, diversifying, ensuring technical scope growth, and start-ups contributing to new managerial leadership. The aim of this study is to contribute to our knowledge of convergence innovation by providing empirical evidence on it. To this purpose, we use a nonlinear time-varying factor model to test for convergence innovation and countries' club clustering. For the sample of 29 countries from 1995 to 2017, we identify two significant convergence clubs and one divergent group (Cyprus, Czech Republic, and The Netherlands). The empirical evidence indicates that innovation singularity could appear as a significant barrier and limiting factors for firms' and countries' growth in the future. Design and new product development trends in these countries follow a different decoupling path from the rest of the sample. Policymakers and practitioners should carefully evaluate innovation determinants and constraints (decoupling drivers) in setting up innovation policies on a micro and macro level.