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ten - Innovation clusters and competitive cities in the UK and Europe
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- By James Simmie
- Edited by Martin Boddy, Michael Parkinson
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- Book:
- City Matters
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 19 May 2004, pp 171-196
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Summary
Introduction
International competition, particularly from low-wage, newly industrialising countries (NICs), is forcing many changes on the advanced economies in terms of business strategy. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the latter to compete in international markets, particularly in manufacturing, on the basis of price alone. For them, competitive advantage is to be found more in the quality of their goods and services. Much of this quality is based on sophisticated scientific, technical and managerial knowledge. The transfer of this knowledge into commercial products and services via the crucial process of innovation is therefore becoming one of the main ways for ‘first world’ economies to develop their competitive capabilities in international markets.
Innovation is so important because:
At the level of the economy, innovation is the single most important engine of long-term competitiveness, growth and employment. The OECD estimates that between 1970 and 1995 more than half of the total growth in output of the developed world resulted from innovation, and the proportion is increasing as the economy becomes more knowledge-intensive. (Innovation and Technology Transfer, 2000)
While there is widespread agreement that innovation drives economic growth, there is very little analysis of why this is the case. Thus, one of the key questions of this research was: ‘How does innovation lead to growth?’
For the purposes of this research, innovation was defined as:
the commercially successful exploitation of new technologies, ideas or methods through the introduction of new products or processes, or through the improvement of existing ones. Innovation is a result of an interactive learning process that involves often several actors from inside and outside the companies. (EC, 1996, p 54)
The growing importance of innovation is recognised by the fact that it is now monitored on a European-wide basis by the Community Innovation Survey that is conducted every four years. EUROSTAT also compiles the European Trend Chart on Innovation that aims to build a comprehensive picture of innovation and innovation policies across Europe. A picture is emerging from this data of the strengths and weaknesses of different urban regions across Europe with respect to innovation. Low innovation rates are one of the three major weaknesses to be found in a number of European regions.
eight - Innovation and clustering in the London metropolitan region
- Edited by Iain Begg
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- Book:
- Urban Competitiveness
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 27 February 2002, pp 161-190
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Summary
Introduction
This chapter addresses the question of why the London Metropolitan Region (LMR) is home to more innovation than any other single region in the United Kingdom (UK). While functional definitions of the LMR indicate that it extends out from Greater London and incorporates most of the Outer Metropolitan Area (OMA), it is difficult to construct data sets for this precise area. Using only Greater London seriously underbounds any study of the area that functions as a whole. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, we have chosen to use the whole of the Greater South East as the LMR. This probably over-bounds London’s functional daily urban system but has the merit of clearly including the whole of the London regional economy.
We have adopted a widely used European definition of innovation. This is that ‘Innovation is the commercially successful exploitation of new technologies, ideas or methods through the introduction of new products or processes, or through the improvement of existing ones. Innovation is a result of an interactive learning process that involves often several actors from inside and outside the companies’ (European Commission DGs XIII and XVI, 1996, p 54).
The outstanding significance of the LMR with respect to innovation in the UK has been identified by a number of previous studies. These include, among others, Hilpert (1992) who showed that London is one of only ten major ‘islands of innovation’ in Europe. These are defined according to the following criteria:
• islands which are specialised in more than one of the three studied techno-scientific fields;
• islands which are covering more than 20 per cent of public R&D expenditures in the country;
• strong presence in the islands of both research institutions and enterprises;
• islands which are European ‘knots’ in the web of cooperation links (Hilpert, 1992, p iv).
The rate of innovation in the South East (SE) has been considerably higher than that for any other region in the UK since at least the 1940s. Harris (1988), for example, using a database of significant innovations held at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, calculated that the level of innovation in the SE was one third higher than the UK average between 1945 and 1983. This database was developed from consultations with 400 industry experts who identified major technological developments. These were located in their respective workplaces.
Innovative clusters: global or local linkages?
- James Simmie, James Sennett
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- Journal:
- National Institute Economic Review / Volume 170 / October 1999
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 March 2020, pp. 87-98
- Print publication:
- October 1999
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The idea of industrial clusters forming the basis of regional economic growth has moved rapidly from academe to policy. This research, which forms part of the ESRC Cities: Cohesion and Competitiveness Programme, suggests that greater clarity is needed in defining and applying the concept in different regions. Several different types of clusters have already been identified. The precise basis of their relative success also seems to be different according to the degree of globalisation present and the position that regions occupy in their national hierarchies. In the case of London and the South East, the research shows that the internal characteristics of firms, the ‘pick and mix’ possibilities of a large agglomeration, and its position as an international trading gatweway, are critical for successful innovation in the region.