Making waves: the valuation of innovations in San Sebastian’s surf economy

This study takes a valuation perspective to study how and where products and innovations are gaining ‘economic significance’ in the contemporary economy. Building on a recent research stream in economic geography and urban and regional studies, it highlights that the economic value of many products is not formed within production systems alone, but relies on co-constructed connections between production and consumption systems, playing out across multiple geographies. It distinguishes between three types of economic valuation pathways – namely technical, experiential and identity-based – which although analytically distinct may actually build and reinforce one another. This approach is empirically illustrated with the case of the surf-related economy in the city of San Sebastian (Basque Country, Spain), which is used to make a broader point about the growing relevance of a valuation approach to understand competitive advantage and economic renewal in localized production systems.     

Fostering place-based innovation and internationalization – the new turn in German technology policy

Since the mid-1990s German technology policy has experienced a paradigmatic shift from standard grant schemes towards a region-oriented and competition-based R&D policy. Currently, a new policy experiment, the InterClust contest, is under way, trying to simultaneously foster place-based innovation, R&D internationalization and the internationalization of innovative places. The current paper analyses the new policy, relating it to the recent literatures on heterogeneous firms and on cluster-life cycles, and presents results from a firm survey performed in 21 winner regions of InterClust. Findings show that the new funding scheme takes insights from recent theoretical developments into account and addresses important impediments to firm and cluster internationalization. Although it is too early for an overall assessment, it is argued that the long-term impact will critically depend on the inflow of heterogeneous knowledge and the strength of intra-regional mobilization effects.     

Tourism as a vehicle for regional development in peripheral areas – myth or reality? A longitudinal case study of Swedish regions

In the contemporary so-called ‘competition state era’, many rural and peripheral regions are in decline. Tourism is increasingly viewed as being able to alleviate and rejuvenate regions that are facing economic difficulties. The European Union has launched several programmes with the goal of stimulating growth and employment in peripheral areas. These programmes are often used to support tourism development projects. In this paper, a longitudinal analysis of spatial changes in Swedish tourism is conducted. The analysis is based on statistics regarding overnight stays in Swedish commercial accommodation facilities. The aim is to investigate if tourism and tourism policy contribute to the reduction in disparities between regions. Although there are exceptions, the main findings indicate that the potential for creating sustainable rural tourism growth through tourism policy seems to be much less than the popular discourse suggests.     

An assessment of the technology level and knowledge intensity of regions in Turkey

The paper investigates the patterns of technology and knowledge of the regions. The first aim of the paper is to determine cluster templates at the national level. The second aim of the paper is to investigate the technology and knowledge composition of the regional highpoint clusters. The paper identifies patterns of industrial linkages to define cluster templates and regional highpoints. The second part uncovers regional distributions of technology and knowledge. The data comes from Turkey’s 2012 input–output table. The location quotients use industrial employment statistics from the Turkish Statistical Institute. The technological and knowledge intensity classification follows Eurostat. The findings reveal 10 cluster templates in Turkey. Spatial distribution of the highpoint clusters reveals that most regions contain highpoint clusters with low technology and low knowledge-intensive sectors. The results reveal that highpoint clusters in Turkey’s regions contain industries whose technologies do not demand high skills, knowledge and sophistication. Limited existence of high-tech industries and low knowledge intensity in Turkey’s industry composition is a limiting factor for transition to high value-added manufacturing. Special emphasis should be directed towards constructing regional advantage, given the current levels of technology and knowledge intensity.     

专业镇经济模式的形成机制、特征与发展策略研究--以佛山市为例

专业镇是我国沿海经济发达地区特有的一种经济现象,珠江三角洲是专业镇集中地之一,不仅数量众多、类型丰富,而且规模大,其“一镇一业,一村一品”的专业化生产方式与超10亿元的经济规模引起了政府与学术界的重视。本以佛山市为例,在对佛山市专业镇进行空间分析的基础上,探讨专业镇的产生及其本质,分析佛山市专业镇形成的动力机制、类型与发展阶段,总结了佛山市专业镇的特点及存在的问题,并针对政府与企业分别提出相应的发展策略。     

Capturing gains by relocating global production networks: the rise of Chongqing’s notebook computer industry, 2008–2014

In 2008 a new notebook manufacturing cluster was established in Chongqing in western China. By 2013 it accounted for some 25% of world output by volume. Chongqing’s ability to attract this manufacturing supply chain was driven by several factors that permitted strategic coupling: the existence of complex networks of cooperation and economies external to the firm but internal to contemporary global production networks; changed conditions in southeast and east China; and the creation by Chongqing Municipal People’s Government with central state support of hard and soft infrastructures and externalities that drove down logistic and production costs and permitted constant product innovation.     

Related variety and the dynamics of European photonic clusters

This article aims at assessing the role of related variety, that is, the relatedness of knowledge bases used by different sectors within a region, as a major driver of clusters’ development. Some recent theoretical papers underline the role of clusters as ‘knowledge platforms’ organizing the recombination of technologies in overlapping industries, following the seminal definition of clusters by Porter as ‘geographic concentrations of linked industries’. In order to investigate the role of related variety in cluster dynamics, we analyse the patterns of development of clusters specializing in photonics in Europe. Photonics constitutes a new and rapidly evolving set of technologies with a high expected degree of technological recombination. However, due to inadequate traditional sectoral classifications, we propose an original method to delineate the perimeter of photonics in patent databases. A two-step algorithm is then used to identify systematically photonic clusters in Western Europe at the local level. In the last part of the paper, a typology of technological trajectories of clusters over the last decades is developed and then correlated with a set of quantitative measures of technological relatedness. The results highly confirm the role of related variety as a major driver of success, particularly for the biggest European clusters.     

A critical review of entrepreneurial ecosystems research: towards a future research agenda

The entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) literature has attracted much attention, especially in policy circles. However, the concept suffers from a number of shortcomings: (1) it lacks a clear analytical framework that makes explicit what is cause and what is effect in an EE; (2) while being a systemic concept, the EE has not yet fully exploited insights from network theory, and it is not always clear in what way the proposed elements are connected in an EE; (3) it remains a challenge what institutions (and at what spatial scale) impact on the structure and performance of EE; (4) studies have often focused on the EE in single regions or clusters, but lack a comparative and multi-scalar perspective and (5) the EE literature tends to provide a static framework taking a snapshot of EE without considering systematically their evolution over time. For each of these shortcomings, we make a number of suggestions to take up in future research on EE.     

袁黄劝善思想与明清江南地区的慈善事业

明末以来,社会变动剧烈,道德体系紊乱.为了缓和这种情况,地方士绅编纂各种劝善书以教化民众,试图重建社会道德秩序,维持社会的稳定,在善书的形成、发展和流传过程中,明代后期的江南士绅袁黄具有承前启后的作用.作为善举运动的倡导者,袁黄的思想不仅对有清一代善书的编纂、流传发生了重要影响,而且对明末以后江南地区的民间慈善事业起到了思想指导作用.