Cumulative and Combinatorial Micro-dynamics of Knowledge: The Role of Space and Place in Knowledge Integration

Abstract

The changing nature of innovation processes is a significant feature of the global structural transformation towards knowledge economies. Much more than in the past, innovation processes require the integration of highly specialized knowledge bases distributed over heterogeneous actors. Hence, we claim that there is a hidden qualitative shift in knowledge dynamics towards combinatorial knowledge. The geography of these knowledge dynamics on the micro-level is at the centre of this article. It explores the ways in which space and place shape cumulative and combinatorial knowledge dynamics by proximity economies and the institutional embeddedness of actors and in turn reshape territory and territorial configurations of actors. Knowing more about these interrelations may provide an improved basis for regional policy-making regarding the reform of established institutions and practices.