Knowledge, Innovation and Space

This volume extends our understanding of the many different ways in which distance impacts the knowledge conversion process. While addressing different facets of knowledge, innovation and space, the authors provide an overview of relevant topics in contemporary research concerned with the global, national, regional and local dynamics of knowledge and innovation.

Knowledge itself is a raw input into the innovation process, which can then transform it into an economically useful output such as a prototype, patent, licence or new firm. New knowledge is often tacit and thus tends to be highly localized, as indeed is the conversion process. Consequently, as the book demonstrates, space or distance matter significantly in the transformation of raw knowledge into beneficial knowledge.

This innovative book will appeal to academics, students and researchers in the fields of regional science, economics, sociology and innovation. It will also be of interest to policymakers and consultants in international organizations, in particular those dealing with entrepreneurship, development, R&D policies and regional policies on different spatial scales.

Contributors include: M. Andersson, T. Arvemo, M. Backman, L. Bjerke, A.P. Cornett, O. Ejermo, U. Gråsjö, T. Hatori, H. Jeong, B. Johansson, S. Johansson, C. Karlsson, K. Kobayashi, H. Lawton-Smith, S. Ochi, M. Okumura, O. Raspe, R.R. Stough, M. Tsukai, T. Ueda, F Van Oort, R. Waters, M. Yokomatsu

Edited by Charlie Karlsson, Professor Emeritus of the Economics of Technological Change, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University and Professor Emeritus of Industrial Economics, Blekinge Institute of Technology, the late Börje Johansson, formerly Professor of Economics, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Jönköping and Director, CESIS (Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies), Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Professor, Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan and the late Roger R. Stough, formerly School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, George Mason University, US