Cluster Emergence and Network Evolution: A longitudinal analysis of the inventor network in Sophia-Antipolis

Anne L.J. Wal ()

No 810, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: A widely held view in cluster research is that clusters are characterized by the presence of networks of local collective learning. However, with a growing number of studies indicating this is not necessarily the case, the question arises under which conditions clusters exhibit dense networks of local collective learning. Taking a longitudinal view at the high-tech cluster of Sophia-Antipolis this paper investigates whether and how networks of collective learning among inventors emerged throughout the growth of the cluster from the late 1970s onwards. On the basis of EPO and USPTO patent data we reconstructed co-inventorship networks for the cluster’s two main industries. Detecting a network of local collective learning only in Information Technology, in which growth has been increasingly based on spin-offs and start-ups, and not in Life Sciences, we suggest that the extent and nature of the local concentration of firms over time strongly affect the evolution of local collective learning networks.

Keywords: cluster evolution; network evolution; collective learning; Sophia-Antipolis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2008-06, Revised 2008-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-knm, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://econ.geo.uu.nl/peeg/peeg0810.pdf Version June 2008 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Cluster emergence and network evolution A longitudinal analysis of the inventor network in Sophia-Antipolis (2008)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:0810

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).