Making waves: the valuation of innovations in San Sebastian’s surf economy

ABSTRACT

This study takes a valuation perspective to study how and where products and innovations are gaining ‘economic significance’ in the contemporary economy. Building on a recent research stream in economic geography and urban and regional studies, it highlights that the economic value of many products is not formed within production systems alone, but relies on co-constructed connections between production and consumption systems, playing out across multiple geographies. It distinguishes between three types of economic valuation pathways – namely technical, experiential and identity-based – which although analytically distinct may actually build and reinforce one another. This approach is empirically illustrated with the case of the surf-related economy in the city of San Sebastian (Basque Country, Spain), which is used to make a broader point about the growing relevance of a valuation approach to understand competitive advantage and economic renewal in localized production systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Valuation
• quality conventions
• territorial innovation
• clusters
• surf
• smart specialisation

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Tina Haisch, Hugues Jeannerat and Max-Peter Menzel for hosting a special session at the 4^th Global Conference in Economic Geography (Oxford, August 2015), in which an early version of this paper was presented. We also thank Fomento San Sebastian, and in particular Eduardo Miera, Euken Sesé and Maite Ayestaran for their local support and hospitality during our fieldwork in San Sebastian.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper draws on fieldwork carried out under the setting of two European projects – ‘Knowcities’ (Interreg IVB) and the Urbact’s Capitalisation on ‘New Urban Economies’ [Urbact, Contract No. 2014 URB 04 33] – co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It was written while Luís Carvalho was the holder of a research grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [BPD/103707/2014].