Are KIBS more than intermediate inputs? An examination into their R&D diffuser role in Europe

It is widely accepted that knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) are key agents in knowledge diffusion. Thanks in part to information technologies, an increasing internationalisation process has been taking place in this type of services in recent years. Starting from these two facts, the objective of this paper is to evaluate and compare the R&D diffuser role of a group of KIBS, those called high-tech services, both within domestic economies and among countries. To do so an input-output model that estimates the domestic and the imported product-embodied R&D diffused by intermediate consumptions of high-tech services is applied in eleven European countries. The results obtained point out the existence of a potential “compensatory” role of imported high-tech services in some countries, a role that deserves further study.