Innovation, Geography of

The geography of innovation is the study of human creativity, expressed by the creation and movement of new devices, products, and processes over space. It entails articulating the geographic location of innovation and/or places of innovation production. Such study can be undertaken at the individual, firm, organizational, global, or regional level. Prevailing models suggest that there is a complex association between the rise in technological infrastructure and the origin and production of innovation and that this affiliation is both self-reinforcing and mutually reinforcing. This process can help to reorganize a space economy and/ or reinforce regional disparity. Reorganization is clearly evident in the United States, where many southern and western states are showing greater innovation potential than they did previously. The location of innovation between urban and rural areas, on the other hand, still is noticeably asymmetric.

Innovation location is shaped by varied spatial and organizational emphasis on research and development and human development/creativity. The geographic compartmentalization of innovation is strongly shaped by the location of (a) explicit (or codified) and tacit (or noncodified) knowledge; (b) globalization; (c) people, firm, and regional connectivity; (d) places that exhibit unique social and economic characteristics; and (e) those areas that noticeably support a technology-based infrastructure. Regions that possess and foster entrepreneurial and bohemian populations are more apt to be places of innovation. This cultural acquiescence can provide innovative regions with a unique social and cultural basis from which creativity can further develop. Place does matter, and issues of urban agglomeration and localization are important aspects of innovation location. Urban agglomeration can increase support for innovators that are in and around a group of cities that are within proximity to one another. A distance decay effect with respect to the geography of innovation benefits innovators that are closer together. Localization enables actors in the innovation process to benefit from their proximity within and around a particular city, industrial park, or metropolitan area. This more localized effect on the innovation process contrasts with a trend toward global patterns. Early models on the geography of innovation concentrated on diffusion and location patterns. Mapping the process by which innovation is created, externalized, brought to market, and expanded has become important to understanding the geography of innovation. Previous insensitivities to space or location in the innovation process are being replaced with a greater appreciation of them.