‘What triggers knowledge interactions in firms and organisations? Actors, Drivers and Proximity in the Automotive, Tourism and New Media sectors Anders Larsson Department of Human and Economic Geography University of Göteborg Linking in to global knowledge flows Dissemination Workshop, 22 April 2010, Malmö

Innovation biographies Eurodite methodological approach to understand micro-level dynamics Knowledge based change processes are constructed as biographies Time has been an important factor On the basis of the IB it is possible to analyse different phases of the process

General characteristics 7 Automotive, 5 New Media and 8 Tourism cases From WV to small networks Product-, service- and organisational innovation First phase ranging from 6 months to 15 years

Drivers Business opportunities Market change Technological development Public funding opportunities Political decisions – indirect effects A crazy scientist with a groundbreaking new invention? NO!

Actors I Tourism – Public bodies are involved in many cases directly or indirectly New Media – Firms are important. Public funding is central in early phase for SME:s Automotive – Large firms are leading. Hierarchical supplier chains and internalized knowledge

Actors II Universities – Involved in 6 of 20 cases as educators, network partners/facilitators and consultants but not as providers of new analythical knowledge. The state – in some cases as the main financial source through national programmes and/or regulation

Is proximity inmportant for new innovation processes to start? All cases are involved in the local/regional knowledge context Physical proximity is evident in all cases. Works as a facilitator for other types of proximity. The rule is the multi-scalar combination of local/regional and distant knowledge sources. Buzz and pipeline Social proximity has been key to finish phase 1 successfully. Especially in organisational innovation cases. (WV, Film-track, Haute-horologie, SAFER,ToD, Mariager Fjord) Regional universities are involved as parts of ”triple- helix” type projects rather than as suppliers of analythical knowledge.

The limits of a relational approach Knowledge dynamics can be understood as knowledge relations between actors. But...one conclusion is that the territory as a total context including technological paths, social networks and policy arrangements play a decisive part in each case.