Digital transformation as a means to attract innovative establishments to municipalities

This study on regional development investigates if digital transformation is a means to attract innovative establishments to municipalities.By doing so, the relationship between the availability of high-speed broadband close by and the number of innovative establishments (workplaces) across all 290 municipalities in Sweden is explored.Panel data for eleven years (2010-2021) originate from official registers.Results based on Fixed Effects Poisson estimations including spatially weighted variables indicate that the digital transformation in the guise of highspeed broadband access is important for ICT (micro) establishments and those in declining municipalities, although the proportion of highly skilled inhabitants renders stronger estimates.For high technology and R&D establishments, access to high-speed broadband is not a relevant location factor.The estimates are robust to endogeneity as tested by the control function approach.