Brave new world? Contemporary reflections on the ‘where’ of innovation

Innovation processes have been extensively studied from a geographical perspective, highlighting specific places and spaces conducive to the emergence of new inventions and innovations. At the same time, the reasons why one might be interested in localizing innovation are changing. Early geography of innovation scholarship was mainly interested in unlocking how regions build innovation-spawning environments, generating positive returns to the economic fates of host regions. Professor Castaldi reflects on how new contributions extend these fundamental insights, in the direction of understanding how innovation might have multiple other economic-geographic implications, both less beneficial and more complex ones than a simple positive relation to local economic success. Against this background, she discusses what a geographical perspective on innovation can be about. To do so, she draws inspiration from recent work on broadening the notion of innovation and connect it to specific literatures from geography. Questions about the ‘where’ of innovation are leading to multiples answers about which places, spaces, networks and scales matter. Moreover, questions about ‘where’ innovation emerges are increasingly complemented by questions about ‘where’ innovation has an impact.

 

Carolina Castaldi is Full Professor at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, where she holds the Chair in Geography of Innovation. She obtained her PhD from Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy and held positions at leading universities in the Netherlands. Her research deals with processes of innovation and how they unfold over time and over space. Her goal is to develop a broad account of innovation, as including both technological and non-technological forms. Her original research contribution also includes the development of novel indicators of innovation, exploiting patent and trademark data. She has published her work across disciplines, including economics, management and geography. She is editor for the journals Economic Geography and Industrial and Corporate Change and an advisor to policymakers on matters related to innovation, intellectual property rights and sustainable regional development.