Technology districts: proximity and knowledge access

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyse if and how technology districts use proximity dimensions (such as geographical, organizational, and cognitive) as a communication resource for accessing external knowledge sources.Design/methodology/approach -To achieve this purpose, the organizational and cognitive links between technology districts' actors and external ones are identified and then the new geographical boundaries of the districts are drawn. A case study related to an Italian technology district (Torino Wireless) is provided in order to identify how different research organizations located in the district use proximity dimensions for reaching knowledge sources external to the district, then re-shaping its geographical boundaries.Findings -The empirical study enables identification of the actors connected to the technology districts by means of geographical, organizational, and cognitive proximity, and their locations. Moreover, results show that organizational proximity is mainly adopted to link actors located near the district area. While, cognitive proximity is mainly adopted to connect actors geographically distant from the district.Research limitations/implications -As regards technology district strategic behaviour, it seems particularly crucial to exploit all the three dimensions of proximity. In particular, the technology district of Torino Wireless should increase its use of organizational proximity to be connected with external knowledge sources.Originality/value -The paper proposes a methodology for identifying the external actors connected with the technology districts by means of proximity. Furthermore, the relationships between organizational and geographical proximity, and cognitive and geographical proximity are also investigated.

Strategic Knowledge Management, Innovation and Performance: A Qualitative Study of the Footwear Industry

“…However, these loners have a low level of external learning, which includes the continuous exchange of knowledge among firms and customers and among firms and suppliers. Their learning may also be based on consultations of industrial and technology fields and professional associations' knowledge bases, as well as benchmarking analyses of competitors (Petruzzelli et al 2007). Exploiters have a high level of external learning but a low level of internal learning and a broad but shallow knowledge base.…”

Proximity and multinational enterprise co-location in clusters: a multiple case study of Dutch science parks

“…For our respondents, cognitive proximity is not affected by geographic proximity and high social proximity does not depend on geographic proximity. These findings contribute additional insights to the emerging research on the interaction between the different proximities and the conditional boundaries of the positive role they have on co-location in locations seeking to stimulate knowledge generation and transfer (Mattes 2012;Paci, Marrocu, and Usai 2014;Hansen 2015;Fitjar, Huber, and Rodríguez-Pose 2016;Steinmo and Rasmussen 2016), beyond the already recognised negative effects of excessively high proximity (Petruzzelli and Carbonara 2007).…”

“…According to the literature, it is easier to share knowledge when the organisational proximity of interacting parties is high (Knoben and Oerlemans 2006), and connections between organisations are mainly sustained through organisational proximity (Petruzzelli and Carbonara 2007). However, interviewees from MNEs and other organisations in the three science parks consistently articulated a view whereby MNEs do not have intensive ties with other MNEs.…”

Consideration of Proximity in Selection of Residential Location by Science and Technology Workers: Case Study of Hsinchu, Taiwan

“…Petruzzelli et al (2007) defines knowledge precinct more specifically. Consequently, regional economic growth relies on the ability of the region to innovate and create new knowledge.…”