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Face-to-Face, Buzz and Knowledge Bases: Socio-spatial implications for learning and innovation policy

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Abstract

While concurring with the new streams of literature in geography that highlight the importance of face-to-face and buzz in the globalizing learning economy, the article argues that this literature is misleading on three interrelated accounts. Firstly, it conflates face-to-face and buzz; secondly, it fails to distinguish between the importance of face-to-face and buzz for industries drawing on different knowledge bases, and thirdly, these conceptual inadequacies lead to an exaggeration of the importance of cities as sites for creativity and innovation, and hence regional competitiveness. By applying an industrial knowledge base approach the article seeks to reconstruct an alternative framework that allows for a systematic differentiation between the importance of both face-to-face and buzz for different industries. This provides a framework for developing a more nuanced understanding of the spatial implications of face-to face communication and buzz for learning and innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjørn, Asheim & Coenen, Lars & Vang, Jan, 2005. "Face-to-Face, Buzz and Knowledge Bases: Socio-spatial implications for learning and innovation policy," Papers in Innovation Studies 2005/18, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2005_018
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    File URL: http://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/200518_Asheim_et_al.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Karl-Johan Lundquist & Michaela Trippl, 2009. "Towards Cross-Border Innovation Spaces: A theoretical analysis and empirical comparison of the Öresund region and the Centrope area," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2009_05, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    2. Fitjar, Rune Dahl & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2013. "Firm collaboration and modes of innovation in Norway," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 128-138.
    3. Nathalie Lazaric & Christian Longhi & Catherine Thomas, 2008. "Gatekeepers of Knowledge versus Platforms of Knowledge: From Potential to Realized Absorptive Capacity," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 837-852.
    4. Friedrich Dornbusch & Sidonia von Proff & Thomas Brenner, 2013. "The organizational and regional determinants of inter-regional collaborations – Academic inventors as bridging agents," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2013-11, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    5. DÖRRY Sabine, 2012. "Bridging Monopolies of Power: Foreign Tourism Trade Relations between Germany and Jordan and Constitutional Uncertainty," LISER Working Paper Series 2012-17, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    6. Bögenhold, Dieter & Fachinger, Uwe, 2009. "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Spatial Disparities: Divisions and Changes of Self-employment and Firms," MPRA Paper 19245, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Rune Dahl Fitjar & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2014. "When local interaction does not suffice: sources of firm innovation in urban Norway," Chapters, in: André Torre & Frédéric Wallet (ed.), Regional Development and Proximity Relations, chapter 5, pages 195-222, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Friedrich Dornbusch & Thomas Brenner, 2013. "Universities as local knowledge hubs under different technology regimes – New evidence from academic patenting," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2013-10, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    9. Ron Boschma, 2017. "A concise history of the knowledge base literature: challenging questions for future research," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1721, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2017.
    10. Matthias Böttcher, 2010. "Global and local networks in the Solar Energy Industry - The case of the San Francisco Bay Area," NEURUS papers neurusp143, NEURUS - Network of European and US Regional and Urban Studies.
    11. Kevin P. Heanue & David Jacobson, 2007. "Embeddedness and innovation in low and medium tech rural enterprises," Working Papers 0702, Rural Economy and Development Programme,Teagasc.
    12. Wedemeier, Jan, 2009. "Creative cities and the concept of diversity," HWWI Research Papers 1-20, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    13. Bögenhold, Dieter & Fachinger, Uwe, 2010. "How Diverse is Entrepreneurship? Observations on the social heterogeneity of self-employment in Germany," MPRA Paper 23271, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation Policy; face-to-face; Buzz;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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