Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
searchers not only publish their findings in available journals but may also help
individual firms who seek advice on problems; and from knowledge of patents that
have been published. Howells (
2002
) reviewed several studies that used different
measures to show how knowledge in firms is acquired, revealing significant loca-
tion effects even when codified knowledge is used. For example, he discovered
three main effects, namely: corporate patent activity at a state level in the U.S.A.
was influenced by university research spending; industries that are more knowl-
edge-intensive were more spatially concentrated; and university R&D centres usu-
ally have a major impact upon employment in several high technology sectors in
adjacent cities. This means that existing research institutions become an important
locational asset for innovating firms.
Knowledge acquisition also occurs in a third way, in a more
informal context
,
either from other knowledge intermediaries and local specialists outside their firm,
or from interpersonal contacts between people working in similar or related in-
dustries. Such knowledge spill-overs have a strong distance-decay effect and are
more likely to occur when there are clusters of similar or interlinked businesses
in an area (Cooke
2001
; Cooke and Swartz
2007
). Such clusters create not only a
knowledgeable local workforce, but a network of co-operative behaviour between
individuals and firms, even when they are competitive with one another (Cooke
and Morgan
1998
). Although there can be an element of codified knowledge in this
transfer, the really crucial knowledge spill-overs are the types of tacit knowledge
exchanges described earlier. These exchanges are not only based on the specific
technical or other problems being discussed. As important are the contacts with
people from different specialist fields who can use their own expertise to throw new
light upon, or even partially solve, the difficulties being experienced in the various
phases of invention or innovation. This can be in a technical field, or in knowing
where to get finance or some other essential producer service. As various areas
of science and technology become more and more specialised it is almost impos-
sible for anybody to be cognizant of all developments even in a particular field. So
the presence of what is being called a 'buzz' in a local area produced by personal
contacts, and the local availability of specialist firms to obtain relevant knowledge,
is even more important. However, Simmie's (1992), study of innovative firms in
south-east England showed that although the possibility of local knowledge spill-
over may be a necessary condition for the local concentration of innovative activi-
ties, it was not a complete explanation. Two-thirds of the innovations produced by
his sample of successful firms were products entering a competitive world market,
and forty per cent of the firms surveyed obtained much of the knowledge neces-
sary to develop the projects from overseas. So he found another crucially important
knowledge acquisition variable was present, one that came from
international ac-
cess and linkages
. Hence it was concluded that access to a major airport hub, not
only to local research establishments or universities, was crucial to the smooth flow
of international knowledge transfer that occurred mainly through personal contacts.
What was also striking from his results is the paucity of knowledge-transfers from
areas outside London and the south-east to other parts of Britain, showing that the
international associations were more important that national ones. Yet one must be
