Handbook on the Geographies of Innovation

Edited by Richard Shearmur, School of Urban Planning, McGill University, Canada, Christophe Carrincazeaux, GREThA UMR CNRS 5113, University of Bordeaux, France and David Doloreux, Department of International Business, HEC Montréal, Canada

The geography of innovation is changing. First, it is increasingly understood that innovative firms and organizations exhibit a wide variety of strategies, each being differently attuned to diverse geographic contexts. Second, and concomitantly, the idea that cities, clusters and physical proximity are essential for innovation is evolving under the weight of new theorizing and empirical evidence. In this Handbook we gather 28 chapters by scholars with widely differing views on what constitutes the geography of innovation. The aim of the Handbook is to break with the many ideas and concepts that emerged during the course of the 1980s and 1990s, and to fully take into account the new reality of the internet, mobile communication technologies, personal mobility and globalization. This does not entail the rejection of well-established and supported ideas, but instead allows for a series of new ideas and authors to enter the arena and provoke debate.

‘The book successfully broadens current discourse through a well-constructed narrative that no doubt will lead to new research paths and agendas.’
– Kirsten Martinus, Geographical Research

‘The editors have assembled a superb array of experts on various aspects of innovation and its geographical sources, processes and manifestations. This volume provides state-of-the-art overviews of key topics, probing of ongoing debates, and fresh empirical perspectives on unresolved dilemmas in innovation studies. The Handbook should be an essential reference for scholars and policymakers alike as they struggle to understand the many geographies of innovation.’
– Edward J. Malecki, The Ohio State University, US

‘The authors present a much needed update to prior handbooks on the geography of innovation. They have been able to put together a remarkable and consistent collection of chapters by well-known authors that will be of relevance not only for geographers, but also for scholars in economics, innovation studies and related fields interested in the spatial aspects of innovation. It combines well-established topics on innovation systems with new insights, for instance, into the culture of innovation, discusses center vs. periphery innovation, and orients itself along a set of perceived confusions in the field – as identified in the introduction. I believe this book will find a broad readership among researchers, students and politicians interested in the spatiality of innovation.’
– Harald Bathelt, University of Toronto, Canada