Innovation, Networks, and Knowledge Spillovers

Our understanding of innovation processes has dramatically changed over the past decades. Interactive models of innovation, differing significantly from the linear approach, now emphasize both the importance of networking activities both within and across firms, and the centrality of knowledge spillovers which lie at the root of the formation of networks. The study of knowledge spillovers has become a major focus of research on innovative networks in recent years. Part of this research tradition can be traced back to the early work of Alfred Marshall on external economies through which 'industrial districts' – as he termed them – were integrated. This book brings together a collection of articles and book chapters which present an overview and synthesis of current knowledge in the Economics of Innovation. It both reviews what is known and accepted as the best thinking on selected topics in the field and provides research findings that offer valuable insights into the nature and process of innovation, network formation and network activities, knowledge generation and spillovers from a regional perspective. By presenting the articles and book chapters as a whole, this collection is a novel combination. It is being published simultaneously with Spatial Analysis and GeoComputation: Selected Essays. Innovation, Networks and Knowledge Spillovers is essentially a multi-product undertaking, in the sense that the various contributions are largely multi-authored publications. All these co-authors deserve the full credit for this volume, as they have been the scientific source of the research contributions included in the present volume.

This collection brings together Manfred M. Fischer`s work in the areas of innovation and technological change, innovation and network activities, knowledge creation and spillovers.

The volume is in three parts. The first part demonstrates that the processes of innovation and technological change are spatially differentiated, both regionally within countries and internationally between countries. The second part broadens, both conceptually and empirically, our understanding of the innovation process and the process of network formation, by examining the increasing importance of knowledge creation and diffusion in the new economy and how this is changing the nature of firms in crucial ways. Particular focus is laid on identifying the growing pressures for firms to develop more inter- and intrafirm networks and on providing lucid illustrations of  these different kinds of networks. The third part discusses key issues related to the systems of innovation approach as a conceptual framework for regional innovation analysis and directs attention to enlightening conceptual and empirical work on the issue how knowledge spills over locally.

This collection will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in regional science, economic geography and regional economics, economics of technological change and innovation, industrial organisation, innovation studies and economic development.

 

Manfred M. Fischer is Professor in Economic Geography and GIScience at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria.