Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
11 Evolutionary economic geography: regional
systems of innovation and high-tech clusters
Philip Cooke and Carla de Laurentis
1. Introduction
Evolutionary economic geography integrates numerous strands of heterodox spatial
i elds. Some parts of even 'new neoclassical' theory, such as increasing returns, aspects
of endogeneity in growth processes, and notions of abiding spatial disequilibrium as
the resultant of increasing returns to spatial scale (Krugman, 1995), provide interesting
insights into why some regions are rich and others poor, to echo Malthus's famous ques-
tion of Ricardo (Landes, 1998). But this is all, for there are few other distinctive con-
tributions to be made from that quarter. One sub-i eld of regional science that is more
squarely compatible with an evolutionary approach is that dealing with regional innova-
tion systems (Braczyk et al., 1998). It is avowedly neo-Schumpeterian, translating that
author's resolutely aspatial economist's mode of analysis and bringing further life to it.
Indeed, elsewhere it has been argued that one reason why it continually attracts fascina-
tion is that regional innovation systems analysis gave a boost to more general innovation
systems thinking. This, according to Carlsson (2007), is the dominant innovation studies
i eld since refereed articles began appearing in the mid-1990s (Cooke, 1992).
The reason for this is explored in section 1 of the chapter, arguing that the conceptual
perspective of industrial economics, often referred to as 'industrial dynamics' in the
innovation studies literature, is vertical - down the sector, as it were, from the vertically
integrated large i rm to its suppliers and support organisations. In the old days of the
'Industrial Age' when multinationals evolved as vertically integrated behemoths, pursu-
ing industrial organisational processes that could be captured in simple 'S' shaped curves
by the likes of Vernon (1966), this i tted a linear theory of innovation. But, as is well
known, that model began breaking down not long after it was conceptualised, and large
i rms began to outsource even essential requirements, chiel y to respond to Japanese
'lean production', although the formulation of that academically came some twenty-
plus years after Vernon (1966) in the 'lean production' bible of Jones et al. (1990). The
geographical imagination is more horizontal, i nding little dii culty even seeing much
of what hitherto passed for vertical integration as far from complete. One only had to
have spent time in 1950s to 1960s Birmingham or Coventry, as did one of this chapter's
authors, rurally raised, on frequent visits to relatives who had migrated from the declin-
ing Welsh coali elds to seek a better life, to experience the shock of seeing numerous
(usually black-painted) brand-new truck chassis with unenclosed engine and wheels, and
hung-on temporary licence plates, being driven through the city-centre to one of many
distant city coach-building specialists to be i nished, to experience 'agglomeration' at
i rst-hand (Boschma and Wenting, 2007).
This chapter then moves into an analysis of regional evolution, especially regarding
systemic innovation. Important concepts are juxtaposed involving the more interesting
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