Collective Innovation Processes

6 The Innovative Territory

Analyzing innovation processes and their relationship with the territorial dimension is an important research topic and an issue that concerns public policies, as demonstrated by the scientific literature and several recent reports on this context [MAD 08, GOD 10, SCH 14, CMI 15, OUR 15]. Geography of innovation, technological districts, innovative environments, innovation clusters and technopoles are some of the several terms that often correspond to different ways of looking at the innovation process and its spatial context. Besides their differences, these approaches have a common point, that is, they indicate that innovation may involve a marked spatial dimension and that firms benefit from establishing themselves in the same place [AUD 96]. The availability of financial resources, as well as social and relational capital, the existence of bearer services or the presence of universities and research centers in a given area are key elements that can account for the ability of the actors to innovate. Geographic proximity, therefore, represents the main stimulant for firms gathering on a regional or local level.

The creation of innovative companies is also a leitmotif within the context of local and economic development policies modeled on the example of Silicon Valley and other “clusters” of companies, most often in knowledge-intensive sectors. Thus, reports on creativity and innovation in specific areas [GOD 10] attempt to identify new forms of ...