TRANSNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS, LOCAL COMPETITIVENESS: MAPPING THE GEOGRAPHIES OF FILMMAKING IN/THROUGH HONG KONG

ABSTRACT. Through the Global Production Networks (GPN) analytical lens, this paper shows how politico-economic developments in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia are instrumental in developing Hong Kong as a premier filmmaking centre, and how Hong Kong-based filmmakers have to weave new cross-scalar production networks and target new markets so as to remain competitive. The broader objective of the paper is to contribute to extant debates on urban-based, cluster-driven policies by showing how cities, in developing their industrial capacities, need not necessarily be in competition with other places at different geographical scales. Rather, as the empirical materials evince, cities should collaborate to compete. Apart from the presentation of available historical and statistical materials, the discussion is informed by twenty-seven in-depth interviews with Hong Kong-based film workers, government agency executives and film industrial association heads, as well as an interview with a Singapore-based film producer with ongoing production linkages with Hong Kong-based film production companies.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS TRAVEL FOR INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS – MAKING SENSE OF NOMADIC WORKERS

This article uses research on business air travel to study the external linkages of clusters. Using a typology of travellers (from commuters, explorers, and nomads to visiting tradesmen and missionaries) we show how elements of the cluster have more complex external connections than proposed by most of the cluster research literature. Maintaining these linkages involves hyper-mobility of individuals. We explore the implications of such continued physical travel for understandings of the workplace, for work-life balance and for citizenship. We conclude by warning against any one-dimensional understanding of the relationships.     

长三角企业经营管理人才空间分布及其地理流动网络——基于上市公司董监高团队数据分析

在全球化与知识经济时代的双重背景下，人才尤其是高端人才已然成为衡量区域创新能力与经济发展水平的重要指标，其空间分布与流动趋势开始引起学术界的关注。基于人才履历大数据，应用履历分析、社会网络分析与修正型复合指标划分方法，对长三角地区企业经营管理人才空间分布及其流动网络进行了探究。结果表明：①企业经营管理人才空间分布具有明显地域差异，主要集中于沿海沿江地区，且空间集聚态势日益强化；②企业经营管理人才流动网络结构层级显著，网络链接空间上呈“Z”型分布；人才流动整体呈现出低流动性、“一主四副”结构、集中性、均衡性、极核交互与邻域渗透、跨区域性6大特征；③结合流动方向与活跃程度划分出四种人才流动地域类型，总体呈“破碎化”特征。为合理制定城市人才政策、促进区域高质量一体化发展提供科学借鉴与参考。     

A place-based policy for promoting Industry 4.0: the case of the Castellon ceramic tile district

ABSTRACT

Digitization and its impact on regions and clusters remains overlooked in the literature, and constitute this present paper’s goal. How does an industrial district transit collectively to the adoption of new radical changes brought about by Industry 4.0? This study explores the role of collective actors and innovation platforms during the early stages of a pilot policy to stimulate a collective transition of an entire MID (Marshallian Industrial District) into Industry 4.0. We posit that institutional isomorphism and the existent social capital in MIDs is a double-sword phenomenon that can also positively constitute an enabler for fostering change on a collective-basis. Technology transitions, such as Industry 4.0, can be supported and led by collective actors that are central in facilitating the adoption of Industry 4.0 in MIDs, enticing innovative firms to engage in that transition, establishing, legitimizing, and embedding a new set of processes, practices and inter-firm arrangements for digitizing and then promoting imitation: the positive leverage of isomorphism. Thus, MID transition is facilitated through capitalizing on the MID logic of cooperation-competition and isomorphism, by developing and promoting a collective understanding of the new paradigm, building a supportive infrastructure, educating in the new technology and avoiding cognitive inertia.     

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

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.