The evolution of economic resilience in cities: Re-invention versus replication

It is argued that urban economic resilience should be seen in terms of the capacity to maintain long-run economic growth pathways and the impacts of sudden and unforeseen shocks on those pathways. It is proposed that resilience is based on the long-run capacities of urban economies to re-invent themselves in the face of external shocks emanating from such phenomena as globalisation and technological change. This hypothesis is investigated by analysing employment change and the development of knowledge based private sector service industries and digital firms in English and Welsh cities from 1911. On the basis of this analysis, it is concluded that those cities with the highest levels of knowledge based employment in 1911 have emerged as the most resilient economies in terms of their long-term employment growth paths. Conversely, those urban economies with the highest levels of low knowledge intensity jobs in 1911 have tended to replicate those types of employment and consequently have suffered from low levels of resilience in the face of the local impacts of globalisation and technological shocks

New technological path creation and the role of institutions in different geo-political spaces

This paper analyses the roles of institutions in facilitating or impeding the creation of new technological pathways in different countries. It is argued that the successful invention, innovation and diffusion of new technologies require the co-evolution of relevant institutions. It is argued that informal institutions, through their impact on people’s beliefs, perceptions and consequential behaviour, crucially influence whether formal institutions coevolve with technological development and changing circumstances. At the same time, the rigidity of the pre-existing formal institutional arrangements impacts on whether agents can stimulate their co-evolution with the introduction of new technologies. These arguments are explored by comparing the creation of new wind power technologies in Britain and Germany since the 1970s

Bark beetles as agents of change in social–ecological systems

Due to recent outbreaks of native bark beetles, forest ecosystems have experienced substantial changes in landscape structure and function, which also affect nearby human populations. As a result, land managers have been tasked with sustaining ecosystem services in impacted areas by considering the best available science, public perceptions, and monitoring data to develop strategies to suppress bark beetle epidemics, and in some cases to restore affected lands and ecosystem services. The effects of bark beetle outbreaks are often detrimental to the provision of ecosystem services, including degraded landscape aesthetics and diminished air and water quality. However, there have been instances where bark beetle outbreaks have benefited communities by, for example, improving habitat for grazing animals and enhancing real- estate values. As a consequence of the interaction of a warming climate and susceptible forest stand conditions, the frequency, severity, and extent of bark beetle outbreaks are expected to increase and therefore will continue to challenge many social–ecological systems. We synthesize experiences from recent outbreaks to encourage knowledge transfer from previously impacted communities to potentially vulnerable locations that may be at risk from future bark beetle epidemic

La Recherche et le déclin des commandes militaires d'État en Europe et au Royaume-Uni

Il apparaît bien que l'innovation est un élément significatif de la relance et de la croissance dans les économies modernes. Or, l'innovation technologique, en particulier, devient de plus en plus sophistiquée et nécessite une recherche-développement (R&D) continue et coûteuse. La recherche est définie ici comme l'expansion de la base de savoir, en vue de fournir une compréhension des phénomènes physiques. Le développement est défini comme une activité spécifique de produit qui applique ce sa..

Innovation and Urban Regions as National and International Nodes for the Transfer and Sharing of Knowledge

S IMMIE J. (2003) Innovation and urban regions as national and international nodes for the transfer and sharing of knowledge, Reg. Studies 37 , 607-620. This paper examines the transfer and sharing of knowledge within and between regions in the context of the development of the international economy. It is argued that knowledge is a key resource for innovation which, in turn, is one of the major drivers of economic growth. The firms producing the most novel product innovations in the most significant regional concentrations of innovation are very adept at working across the interface of local and global knowledge transfers. Using data from previous studies combined with the latest regional data from the Community Innovation Survey 3, comparisons are made between the ways in which the most innovative firms in the Greater South East transfer and share knowledge from the local to the international level. The most innovative firms are shown to access international sources of knowledge. This raises questions over the relative importance of local versus international knowledge spillovers for the most innovative firms. Innovative firms tend to concentrate in a minority of key metropolitan regions. These are shown to combine a strong local knowledge capital base with high levels of connectivity to similar regions in the international economy. In this way they are able to combine and decode both codified and tacit knowledge originating from multiple regional, national and international sources. As a result they are able to generate virtuous circles of knowledge, innovation, competitiveness and exports. S IMMIE J. (2003) L'innovation et les zones urbaines en tant que noeuds pour le transfert et le partage de la connaissance, Reg. Studies 37 , 607-620. Cet article cherche a examiner le transfert et le partage de la connaissance intra et interregionaux dans le cadre du developpement de l' economie internationale. On soutient que la connaissance constitue une ressource essentielle de l'innovation, qui represente, a son tour, l'un des moteurs cle de la croissance economique. Les entreprises qui fabriquent les produits les plus innovateurs dans les zones d' innovation regionales les plus importantes sont tres expert en l' art de travailler avec l'interface des transferts de la connaissance locale et globale. A partir des donnees provenant des etudes ante rieures, combinees avec les dernieres donnees regionales provenant de la Community Information Survey 3 (la troisieme enquete menee sur l'innovation dans communaute), on fait des comparaisons des facons dont les entreprises les plus innovatrices situe es dans le Grand Sud-Est transferent et partagent la connaissance du niveau local jusqu'a l'echelon international. On demontre que les entreprises les plus innovatrices ont acces aux sources de connaissance internationales. Cela remet en question l'importance relative des retombees de connaissance locales ou internationales pour ce qui est des entreprises les plus innovatrices. Les entreprises innovatrices ont tendance a s'agglomerer dans une poignee de regions me tropolitaines cle. On demontre que celles-la combinent une base de connaissance locale solide et des taux de connexite eleves avec des regions similaires dans l'economie internationale. De cette facon, elles se trouvent en mesure de combiner et de de coder la connaissance a la fois codifiee et implicite qui provient de multiples sources regionales, nationales et internationales. Par conse quent, ils peuvent creer des cercles vertueux de connaissance, de competitivite et d'exportations. S IMMIE J. (2003) Innovation und Stadtregionen als uberregionale und internationale Knotenpunkte der Weitergabe und gemeinsamer Nutzung von Kenntnissen, Reg. Studies 37 , 607-620. Diese Aufsatz untersucht die Weitergabe und gemeinsame Nutzung von Kenntnissen innerhalb und von einer Region zur andern im Zusammenhang mit der Entwicklung der internationalen Wirtschaft. Es wird festgestellt, dass Kenntnisse der Schlussel zur Innovation sind, die wiederum eine der Hauptantriebskrafte wirtschaftlichen Wachstums darstellt. Firmen, die die neuesten Produktinnovationen in den bedeutendsten regionalen Konzentrationen von Innovation herausbringen, sind sehr geschickt in der Ausnutzung von Beruhrungspunkten ortlicher und globaler Weitergabe von Kenntnissen. Gestuzt auf Angaben fruherer Studien in Verbindung mit Regionaldaten jungsten Datums des Community Innovation Survey 3 werden Vergleiche zwischen den Arten angestellt, in denen die innovativ ruhrigsten Firmen des Grossgebietes Sudostengland Kenntnisse von der ortlichen bis zur internationalen Ebene gemeinsam nutzen und einander weitergeben. Es wird gezeigt, wie die innovativ aktivsten Firmen sich Zugang zu internationalen Wissensquellen verschaffen. Daraus ergeben sich fu r die Innovation fuhrenden Firmer Fragen der relativen Bedeutung von o rtlicher, im Vergleich zu interrnationaler Verbreitung von Kenntnissen. Innovative Firmen konzentrieren sich meist in wenigen grossstadtischen Schlu sselregionen. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass diese eine solide Kapitalgrundlage der Ortskenntnis mit hohem Niveau der Verbundenheit mit ahnlichen Regionen der internationalen Wirtschaft kombinieren. Auf diese Weise sind sie imstande, sowohl kodifizierte als auch stillschweigend erworbene Kenntnisse zu kombinieren und zu dekodifizieren, die von vielfachen regionalen, uberregionalen und internationalen Quellen stammen. Folglich sind sie praktisch in der Lage, Ringe von Kenntnissen, Innovation, Wettbewerbsfahigkeit und Exporten zu schaffen.Competitiveness, Knowledge, Innovation, Trade, Regional Hierarchies,

Critical surveys edited by Stephen Roper innovation and space: A critical review of the literature

Simmie J. (2005) Innovation and space: a critical review of the literature. Regional Studies 39 , 789–804. This review examines the relationships between innovation and space. It does so by tracing the historical development of innovation theory and its subsequent linking at different stages with spatial and agglomeration theory in order to provide explanations about why the firms, organizations and institutions located in a minority of city‐regions generate so much more innovation than those in the majority of cities. It addresses the key question about why a relative handful of city‐regions are home to higher absolute and relative concentrations of innovation than most other types of area.Innovation, Cities, Agglomeration, Innovation, Grandes villes, Agglomération, Innovation, Städte, Ballung, Innovación, Ciudades, Aglomeración, JEL classifications: R12, O31,

The innovation network (TIN)

Simmie James Martin. The innovation network (TIN). In: Géographes associés n°18, 1er semestre 1996. Le Géoforum Franco-Britannique de Rouen. Libres débats sur les géographies britannique et française. pp. 117-122