The role of external linkages and gatekeepers for the renewal and expansion of U.S. cities’ knowledge base, 1990-2004

Stefano Breschi and Camilla Lenzi

No 1414, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: This paper examines the role of external linkages and gatekeepers for the renewal and expansion of cities’ knowledge base, by presenting new evidence about co-invention networks in U.S. metropolitan areas based on European Patent Office (EPO) data for the period 1990-2004. We argue that the relative importance of direct external linkages and external relations mediated by gatekeepers varies according to specific local conditions. In particular, our findings suggest that external relations are on average a chief conduit to inject non-redundant knowledge at the local level and contribute to broadening and rejuvenating the local knowledge base. However, cities are quite heterogeneous in how they benefit from external relations. Whereas direct external connections outperform, on average, external links mediated by gatekeepers, the latter are especially important in cities with a localized and specialized knowledge base, as they enable the trans-coding and absorption at the local level of externally sourced knowledge.

Keywords: networks; gatekeepers; knowledge base (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2014-06, Revised 2014-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-geo, nep-ino and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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http://econ.geo.uu.nl/peeg/peeg1414.pdf Version June 2014 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Role of External Linkages and Gatekeepers for the Renewal and Expansion of US Cities' Knowledge Base, 1990-2004 (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:1414

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