Linking content and technology: on the geography of innovation networks in the Bergen media cluster
This paper deals with the geography of innovation networks and analyses combinatorial knowledge dynamics from a single cluster perspective. Addressing firms in the media cluster in Bergen, Norway, we examine how and from where companies acquire and combine different types of knowledge for their innovation activities. The empirical analysis, which is based on structured interviews with 22 media companies, identifies two main types of cluster firms: media content providers that rely heavily on symbolic knowledge and media technology providers that draw mostly on synthetic knowledge. Even though they draw on different knowledge bases, the two types of firms are strongly interlinked in their in…
New regional industrial path development and innovation networks in times of economic crisis
This paper presents novel research on how exogenous shocks and economic crises affect innovation, knowledge networks, and new path development in regions. Conceptually, we take a regional innovation systems perspective which views new path development as the outcome of innovation and knowledge exchange between firms and other actors, facilitated by a common institutional framework. Empirically, we draw on interviews and network data from the oil and gas industry in southern Norway. Following a long period of prosperity, the industry was hit by the oil price shock in 2014 and entered an economic crisis. The findings suggest that the shock triggered the firms to commit even more forcefully to…
New Avenues for Regional Innovation Systems and Policy
Regional innovation systems (RISs) have received increasing interest from researchers and policy makers over the past three decades. The interest is driven partly by advances in theoretical analyses, partly by empirical studies of well-functioning, successful regional economies, partly by the growing interest in innovation as a source of competitive advantage, and partly by the need for new policies to stimulate job growth and lower regional inequalities. This chapter presents the approach of the book to further improve regional innovation studies. The chapter introduces the content of the three parts of the book; (i) theoretical advances on RIS research, (ii) empirical cases of RIS develop…