Harald Bathelt

Harald Bathelt is Professor in the Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toronto and Zijiang Visiting Chair at the Institute of Urban Development, East China Normal University in Shanghai. As an economic geographer, his research interests are in the areas of industrial clustering, knowledge generation and innovation over distance, and the socio-economic impacts of regional industrial and institutional change. He has published numerous books and many conceptual and empirical articles in leading academic journals and is Editor of ZFW - Advances in Economic Geography (formerly Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie). Harald welcomes students that are interested to work in areas related to economic geography, such as the following: I. Interregional Inequality and Regional Development: Quickly increasing inequality causes concern and drives populism. Harald's research projects hypothesize that regional development depends on the ability to mobilize resources and networks across different spatial scales. II. Knowledge Generation over Distance: This research is based on the assumption that the competitiveness of regional firms depends on their ability to create knowledge both within and beyond their regional environment. III. Cluster Evolution and Institutional Change: Related research investigates (i) processes of how clusters emerge, (ii) the consequences of institutional change for cluster dynamics, and (iii) the impact of cross-cluster networks.