Riccardo Cappellin

Territorial knowledge management: towards a metrics of the cognitive dimension of agglomeration economies

This paper takes a look at the spatial dimension of innovation processes, which do not occur in high-tech sectors but in clusters of SMEs. Territorial knowledge management means the generation of a system of procedures and incentives to convert tacit and localised knowledge into explicit knowledge available to all companies and employees in a region by overcoming cognitive barriers. Territorial knowledge management is a methodology, which aims to promote innovation within existing firms and the birth of innovative firms through the enhancement of the local endowment of intellectual capital and the governance of those processes, which drive knowledge creation within the firms and between these latter and the local actors. The paper presents an outlook on empirical indicators to measure the value generated by information and knowledge embodied in the firms and human resources of a local territory.

Networks and Technological Change in Regional Clusters

“Knowledge represents the fundamental resource in the contemporary economy and the process of learning represents the most important process” (Lundvall and Johnson 1994). However, regional clusters are mainly made by small and medium sized firms (SMEs) and the latter are not innovative according to the common indicators, such as RD and patents. Moreover, they usually operate in sectors which are rather traditional and are very different from those which should characterize a modern “knowledge economy”.

The Territorial Dimension of the Knowledge Economy Collective Learning, Spatial Changes, and Regional and Urban Policies

Cities are the core of the far-reaching sectoral transformation of the national and international economy into the model of the “knowledge economy,” and the competitive advantage of cities and regions is determined by a faster adoption of innovation. This article considers the relationships between the changes in the spatial structure and the transition to the knowledge economy, as innovation affects the structure of the territory at the regional, national, and international level, but also how territorial structure and policies affect the patterns of innovation. It first illustrates the differences between the related concepts of information, knowledge, and learning economy. Then it defines the systemic and interactive nature of the process of knowledge creation and illustrates the methodology of territorial knowledge management. That highlights how spatial planning may affect the innovation potential of a region and the differences with respect to the traditional approach in industrial and innovation policies.

International Knowledge and Innovation Networks

This book explores the distinct nature of innovation in medium technology industrial sectors – which are the key to European international competitiveness – and examines the recent changes of networks within regional clusters.

The European Internal Market and the Internationalisation of Small and Medium Size Enterprises

The completion of the European Internal Market will promote the international mobility of services and of production factors, such as capital, labour, technology and entrepreneurship. Thus, the traditional distinction between national and regional economies, based on the immobility of factors among national economies, has become blurred and this requires a tighter integration between international economics and regional economics.

Urban Agglomeration and Regional Development Policies in an Enlarged Europe

“The decentralised history of Europe - characterised by independent nation states, many of which in turn originated relatively late from smaller regional states - has favoured the emergence of a strong polycentric urban system. A complex web of large, medium-sized and smaller cities has arisen, which in large parts of Europe forms the basis for urbanised spatial structures even in agricultural areas” (European Commission 1999).

The Governance of Regional Knowledge Networks

This article aims to illustrate the factors determining the process of knowledge creation and innovation, focusing on interactive learning, the sharing of tacit knowledge and the development of creativity. It then compares three different forms of regulation of economic relationships - the free market, governance, and government models - focusing on promoting a greater speed of change more than the static factors of competitiveness. Finally, it illustrates the characteristics of competence centres as a new tool of innovation policy which may be appropriate in the evolution of European industry towards the knowledge economy.

Knowledge Creation and Innovation in Medium Technology Clusters

This study deals with the processes of innovation in the medium technology industrial sectors. First, it illustrates the differences between the linear model of innovation and the systemic and cognitive model of knowledge creation. Then, it focuses on the concepts of connectivity, creativity, and speed of change, which characterize the processes of interactive learning in the industrial clusters. Finally, it illustrates a typology of regions, where problems and policy fields are different, and it indicates the guidelines of a governance of interregional knowledge and innovation networks.

Regional Policy and Federalism in the Process of International Integration

Regional policy, both at the EU and at the national level, is confronting serious challenges, which may question even its existence in the medium and long term.

Regional Industrial Policy and the New Economy

The experience of recent decades in the European Union shows that the development of a regional productive system depends in a crucial way not only on the endogenous resources and abilities, but also on relationships with the international economy and the intensity of the integration with other regional production systems in terms of the flow of goods, production investments, financial investments or acquisitions of enterprises, the transfer of organizational abilities, the transmission of technological know-how and tourist flows.