Description
Book SynopsisToday, the study of regions is central to academic analysis and policy deliberation on how to respond to the rise of the knowledge economy.
Regional Economies as Knowledge Laboratories illustrates how newer types of regional analysis - utilising scientometrics, knowledge services measures and university networks, and concepts such as knowledge life cycles, experimental knowledge creation, and knowledge ethics - are leading to a perception that regional economies increasingly resemble knowledge laboratories.
In addition to these measures and concepts, the book features case studies and assessments of policies implemented to facilitate regional engagement with the knowledge economy, and a critique of 'knowledge economy' as ideology. The importance of maintaining a balanced perspective in assessing the depth and reach of the role of knowledge in the market economy is also examined.
Aiming to contribute to the better understanding of theories and practices associated with knowledge regions, this book will appeal to a wide ranging audience, including regional and industrial economists, innovation scientists, academics and practitioners with an interest in knowledge and management organisation, regional scientists, economic geographers, and economic sociologists.
Trade Review'The book covers a large variety of topics related to regional economies and knowledge economies. An important merit of this book is the use of case studies of regions and firms to illustrate arguments. . . The book will be very instructive for students as well as researchers interested in regional economics, policy makers and regional planners.' -- Valerien O. Pede, Papers in Regional Science
'The book offers useful insights to readers interested in regional economic development from either a theoretical or applied standpoint. Most importantly, it provides a number of empirical examples that reach beyond the well-documented list of "usual suspects" (e.g. Silicon Valley, etc.) and shows how policymakers in a wide range of regional and national settings have responded to the challenges of regional economic development in the knowledge economy.' -- Tara Vinodrai, Journal of Regional Science
'The book is a very useful contribution to the literature on a subject that is becoming increasingly popular. . . Despite the welter of related academic articles in this general area of discipline, there has been remarkably little that attempts to bring the different levels of academic analysis together to provide some coherent, underpinning theory for the view that regional economies can be manipulated, or experimented with, utilising knowledge management as a development strategy, so the book deserves to be well consulted on this aspect alone.' -- Economic Geography Research Group
'. . . the book is an accessible and valuable addition to the debate. Balanced with a discussion of the theoretical conception of the knowledge economy is a strong use of international case studies, which makes the book an informative read for anyone interested in the knowledge economy.' -- Jessica Barker, Town Planning Review
Table of ContentsContents: Introduction: The Scale Question in Knowledge Creation, Capture and Commercialization 1. Strategic Adaptation to the Knowledge Economy in Less Favoured Regions: A South Ostrobothnian University Network as a Case in Point 2. Higher Education and High Intellectual Unemployment: Does Education Matter? An Interpretation and Some Critical Perspectives 3. The Geography of Research Collaboration: Theoretical Considerations and Stylized Facts in Biotechnology in Europe and the United States 4. Knowledge Intensive Business Services and Regional Development: Consultancy in City Regions in Norway 5. The Cluster as a Nexus of Knowledge Creation 6. Knowledge Life Cycles Inside Local Economic Systems 7. High-Tech Industry Clustering Rationales: The Case of German Biotechnology 8. Industry–Science Relationships as Enhancing Regional Knowledge Economies: A Comparative Perspective from Japan and the UK 9. Placing Ireland’s Transition to a Knowledge Economy within a Global Context 10. The Spatial Dimension of Inter-Firm Learning: Case Study and Conceptualization 11. Knowledge, Values and Territory: A Case Study 12. The ‘Knowledge Economy’: A Critical View 13. Conclusions: Regional Economies as Knowledge Laboratories: Theories, Fashions and Future Steps Index
