Nothing is in the air

Rune Fitjar and Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: It has often been argued that “there is something in the air” which makes firms in high-density environments—such as cities or clusters—more innovative. The co-location of firms facilitates the emergence of serendipity and casual encounters which promote innovation in firms. We assess this hypothesis using data from a survey of Norwegian firms engaged in innovation partnerships. The results indicate that there may be “much less in the air” than is generally assumed in the literature. The relationships conducive to innovation by Norwegian firms emerged as a consequence of purpose-built searches and had little to do with chance, serendipity, or “being there.”

Keywords: innovation; tacit knowledge; agglomeration; externalities; spillovers; Norway (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J50 N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-03-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his, nep-ino, nep-sbm and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Published in Growth and Change, 2, March, 2017, 48(1), pp. 22-39. ISSN: 0017-4815

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/84287/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Nothing is in the Air (2017)
Working Paper: Nothing is in the air (2016)
Working Paper: Nothing is in the air (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:84287

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