Anders Waxell

What is global and what is local in knowledge-generating interaction? : The case of the biotech cluster in Uppsala, Sweden

The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of the biotech cluster in Uppsala, Sweden, and to analyse how cluster knowledge dynamics result from processes and interactions unfolding at different spatial scales. The empirical basis for the analyses are derived from various sources: business registers, an internet-based survey of 106 firms, 23 in-depth interviews with key individuals, and a longitudinal database give data on the degree to which collaborations, rivalry, business transactions, capital sourcing and labour mobility take place in the local cluster. In addition to asking questions about which interactions are most localized and globalized, respectively, the paper also sets out to give an account of the ‘clusterness’ of the case in point. The paper shows that while the business relations of the biotech companies in Uppsala are strongly globalized, the sourcing of capital, the informal social networking and the labour market dynamics are much more regionalized/localized.

Guilty by association : a cross-industrial approach to sourcing complementary knowledge in the Uppsala biotechnology cluster

A wide range of industrial studies recognize the tendency of similar and related economic activities to co-locate in so-called industrial systems or clusters. While a cluster is defined by its cross-industrial relations the supporting and complementary role of cluster actors is seldom fully explored. This study will focus on the dynamics of cluster relations and give an account for the complementary nature of clusters by analysing anchor firms and complementary agents (such as specialized service providers and institutions for collaboration) in the Uppsala biotechnology cluster in Sweden. The empirical data used involves a triangulation of interview, survey and individual-based register data based upon a mapping of cluster actors active in 2002 and 2003. It is shown that both the formerly dominant pharmaceutical company and the local university have actively taken the role as anchor firms/organizations creating a local and dynamic milieu for biotechnology activities. Furthermore, it is shown that the local cluster consists of a variety of complementary agents contributing to knowledge spillovers and cluster competitiveness.

Quality and Regional Competitiveness

Recent literature on competitiveness has focused on innovation and industrial dynamics. In this paper it is argued that innovation is not enough when competing on global markets, at least in certain types of industries where performance, standards, and perceptions of the product are at the forefront. In addition to existing theory, we focus on the role of ‘quality’ in creating and sustaining regional competitive advantage. A theoretical framework for identifying and analyzing processes creating and recreating understandings, perceptions, and experiences of quality, that is, a quality promise, is presented. In the framework, the quality process is divided into three dimensions, labelled performance, projection, and protection. Regional competitiveness is arguably achieved when: (a) a good or a service is well represented in one or more of the quality dimensions; (b) quality perception and knowledge permeate all actors and their activities and are inherent throughout the value chain; and (c) space is an integral part of these processes in that it facilitates (i) localized learning/localization economies, and (ii) place-based branding. It is argued that ‘quality’ should be viewed as deeply embedded in space and that quality processes have both homogeneous and heterogeneous characteristics.

To capture an emerging industry: using industrial standards to identify the biotech industry

Standard industrial classification systems are the cornerstone of quantitative research in several fields. Data collected and coded on the basis of such systems often provide the most complete and accessible material with which to investigate, quantify and map the industrial landscape, and understand the economy at large. However, as relatively static classifications, they present researchers attempting to capture new, emerging and growth industries with a number of problems. Our understanding of the dynamics of economic development is largely based on aggregated firm data, often categorised and identified using an intertwined system of national and international industrial classification standards. This paper uses the example of the biotech industry in testing the ongoing appropriateness of one such industrial classification system, namely the Swedish industrial classification system.

REGIONALIZING “MODE 2”? THE ADOPTION OF CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE IN SWEDISH RESEARCH POLICY

Abstract. This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of university research for innovation and economic growth, a debate highly influenced by concepts such as Mode 2 and regional innovation systems and clusters. A prominent trend in many EU and OECD countries is to direct research funding towards so‐called Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in order to stimulate the industrial output of scientific research. The implementation of the CoE approach is viewed as an attempt to bridge research and innovation policy. By using Sweden as an example and providing an overview and critical discussion concerning Swedish research policy during the period 2001 to 2007 we show that the rhetoric within research policy has changed and become increasingly intertwined with innovation policy. In practice, however, this is not as evident. The study draws on (a) an analysis of policy literature pointing out regulatory and organizational changes concerning the increasing emphasis on linking research to competitive industrial milieus, and (b) a comprehensive database including 110 CoEs, presenting a detailed picture of university‐industry collaboration, cross‐disciplinarity, and prioritized sectors. We fiind that the CoEs account for a relatively small share of government funding, but may however have a strengthening impact on particular research milieus and industries, especially in the life sciences. Additionally, although contemporary policy rhetoric appears to highlight steering funding to geographically‐concentrated milieus, thereby linking leading university research to regional industrial clusters, this has only been manifested in a few cases – notably in the Vinnväxt programme run by Vinnova, the national agency promoting innovation systems.

Sound Affects: Competing with Quality in the Swedish hi-fi Industry

Traditionally, literature on competitiveness has focused on innovation in networks and/or embedded in local/regional milieus. This paper examines the concept of quality and quality processes as an additional way of understanding the competitiveness of small and highly niched industries. In the theoretical framework, applied on the Swedish hi-fi industry, quality is identified as a promise and divided into three dimensions labelled “performance”, “projection” and “protection”. The quality framework provides a useful tool for analysing measurable and non-measurable aspects of quality sound and sound reproduction. Also, it is argued that competitiveness is stimulated when a product is associated with one of the quality dimensions and when a strong quality perception is inherent throughout the production network. Moreover, we find that quality processes are spatially embedded and that location facilitates both place-based branding and localised learning.

Quality and space: a framework for quality- based regional competitiveness: Contemporary Theories and Perspectives on Economic Development

Regional development, growth and competitiveness research has to a large extent come to focus on innovation and technological change. However, it is apparent that some economic activities remain competitive despite little or no innovation. To explore this, the chapter focuses on the role of ‘quality’, or quality processes, which lead to a ‘quality promise’ that is experienced, constructed, mediated and negotiated by systems of actors in specific spatial contexts. Few studies have seriously recognized the relationship between space and quality, especially in explaining global and regional competitiveness. The aim of this chapter, therefore, is to develop a theoretical framework for identifying and analysing quality processes creating and recreating understandings, perceptions and experiences of a quality promise. These processes are deeply rooted in space, stimulated by localized learning, which in turn facilitates place-based branding. Adding quality to the discourse of regional competitiveness may complement a traditional view criticized for treating growth as equivalent to regional prosperity, and thus contributing to regional, urban, and rural resilience and sustainability. Hence, quality is not only pertinent for development in advanced economies, but could also be part of development and progress in developing regions and countries. Additionally, a quality-based regional competiveness framework provides an increased focus on traditional (craft) products and processes. As such it may offer an alternative or additional way of upgrading local and regional products in global production networks, while encouraging local uniqueness and global adaptability.

Quality and space: a framework for quality- based regional competitiveness

The aim of this Handbook is to take stock of regional competitiveness and complementary concepts as a means of presenting a state-of-the-art discussion of the contemporary theories, perspectives and empirical explanations that help make sense of the determinants of uneven development across regions. Drawing on an international field of leading scholars, the book is assembled and organized so that readers can first learn about the theoretical underpinnings of regional competitiveness and development theory, before moving on to deeper discussions of key factors and principal elements, the emergence of allied concepts, empirical applications, and the policy context.

Writing up the region: anchor firm dismantling and the construction of a perceived regional advantage in Swedish news media

ABSTRACT This study investigates how geographic representations and regional industrial identity in news media are used to mobilize local/regional actors and to attract inward and outward investments by mediating and narrating stories of the recovery and rebirth of a region in distress – that is, how media contribute to economic development in or of the region. The study targets media attention covering the dismantling and relocation of two regionally embedded life science and likewise anchor firms: the Pharmacia and Upjohn merger in Uppsala in 1995 and the closure of AstraZenecas operations in Lund in 2010. By drawing on the method of framing and content analysis of news articles derived from a public media database, the analysis show that: (a) geographic representation and associations are intensified in times of media turbulence; (b) news coverage follows two subsequent phases (an initial ‘crisis’ phase and a following more optimistic ‘recovery’ phase) and (c) news media (as intermediary actors and arenas) by communicating ideas of a shared regional industrial identity contribute to the construction of a ‘perceived regional advantage’ (as understood and communicated by news media). Thus, regional industrial identity-building and how the region is perceived by internal and external audiences are important for regional development.