Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Helsinki University of Technology, October Innovative Places: Networks and the Virtual Rob Shields, Professor Carleton University, Ottawa Canada

4 Explanations of innovative cities and regions: 1. ‘Growth Poles’ Traditional Agglomeration and Business Cycle theory (Schumpeter, Marshall) -innovations are concentrated in cities because they are more hospitable environments for the incubation and formation of new firms in part due to the agglomeration of potential inputs. -received wisdom until the 1970s >widely critiqued (also by Schumpeter himself)

2. Innovative Milieux / New Industrial Districts Competitive Networks (Piore and Sabel 1984, Becatini 1990, GREMI) -suppliers, producers, education institutions -national chains link producers to consumers -smaller firms concentrate to build and share local supply chains and skilled labour pools (institutional analysis; Scott 1990; Storper 1995) -firms spin-off innovative units locally but address international markets -typical of regional innovation clusters (Po Valley etc.) >doesn’t clarify causal linkages: do innovative places create innovative firms or vice versa?

3. Learning regions / Knowledge Economy Knowledge economy theories (Lundvall 1992) -Scandinavian (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) -some local innovation systems are better at acquiring and using new knowledge than others because they are adaptable and have a highly knowledgeable labour force. -Movement of labour between firms creates a system of learning and knowledge transfer >what is knowledge? >over-emphasizes the firm

4. Clusters, ‘Silicon Valley’ Competitive supply chain theory (Krugman 1991; Porter 1990) -regional specializations and high quality local factors (supporting industries, firms, public sector) geared to demanding local and national clients/customers encounter international trading opportunities -‘virtuous circle’ of innovation and competitiveness >over-emphasizes local quality of rivalry/collaboration and of ‘best practice’ suppliers >theory-lag: clusters increasingly found to be locally-specific. Can’t generalize

Recent evidence -Innovation is concentrated in core metropolitan centres -clustering is most typical of mature and primary industries, not high tech nor high productivity sectors. -innovation systems and their geographies vary from country to country -markets are international -customers are demanding -attract and retain specialized professional technical labour (Feldman 1994; Hilpert 1992; CEC DG XII 1999; OECD 2001; Simmie et al 2002)

Innovation in Regional Metropolises -hold indigenous labour and attract labour via ‘quality of life’ -language, regionalism -local specialists can understand and apply cutting edge ideas from elsewhere -local competitive advantages -distinctive technologies / training -key universities/research facilities -high-speed telecommunications / international airports -spatial and temporal proximity of key suppliers -access to national public sector demand and key large clients (Simmie et al 2002; ISRN 2001; 2002)

Sustaining Innovation Convergence ‘Picking winners’ vs. Emergence Entrepreneurship Role of public sector in promoting sustainability: -view of the whole -view of everyday life as lived in place -importance of strategic scale (regional?)

Sustainable Innovation? Social reproduction in time and space – Long term view of particular importance – Soft Infrastructure (idealities) Culture and civil society Managing social spatialization –‘Magnet’ effects  Images – Hard Infrastructure (actualities) Services, transportation networks ecological sustainability (Shields 2001; 2002)

Images of Innovative Places -‘Place’ is in many ways invisible and intangible. -One only sees how ‘innovative places’ are actualized. -Only certain Innovation ‘Affordances’ are taken up. -Other affordances remain ‘virtual’ Virtual vs. concrete -Place is an entanglement of the virtual and concrete  ‘Everyday Life’ is a synthesis of these

The virtual and the concrete Matrix of the forms of the real and possible, the ideal and actual Real (existing) Possible (representations) Ideal :virtualabstract Actual :materialprobability (%)

Summary and Conclusions Reviewed 4 explanations of innovative places Recent evidence: no single explanation gives the whole story

Summary and Conclusions What roles can the public sector can play? – Important vantage point Scale of space-time of planning framework – Sustainable innovation – Recognize that virtualities are real – Manage their relation to the concrete Actualizing virtualities for collective long term benefits Images/affordances/culture  Quality of local everyday life