Knowledge Matters: A Networks and Clusters Perspective from the US, Europe and Asia

It has been previously said that in the knowledge economy the marketplace is not divided into towns and regions but into affinity groups that emerge from a high propensity to sociability. In a truly open global economy, no one country is able to dominate others in isolation: knowledge-driven economies and knowledge-based societies can materialize only through the 'chemistry' of community. The focus of this book is on profiling, in socio-technical terms, ways and means that creativity, invention and innovation are manifested and flourish in select American, European, and Asian knowledge-based innovation networks and knowledge clusters. Twelve conceptual and empirical studies are presented that contribute to the theory and practice of technological entrepreneurship in the context of socio-technical networks architecture design, form and function. These are studied from diverse theoretical perspectives, including regional development economics and sociology of innovation, as well as regional science and technology, and knowledge management.