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 objectives of this paper are to evaluate and compare the Research and Development (R&D) diffuser role of a group of KIBS (called high-tech services) both within domestic economies and among countries. To do so, an input-output model that estimates the domestic and imported product-embodied R&D diffused by intermediate consumptions of high-tech services is applied in 11 European countries. The obtained results point out the existence of a potential 'compensatory' role of imported high-tech services in some countries, a role that deserves further study.