Making Connections : Technological Learning and Regional Economic Change

The object of this book is to provide greater understanding of the crucial relationships that are needed between actors in processes of learning at various levels of analysis, ranging from interpersonal relations to firms and inter firm networks.

The contributions employ an interdisciplinary set of approaches to technological change to elaborate on these relationships in both intra- and inter regional contexts.

The book provides empirical analysis from both core and peripheral regions, highlighting the similarities and the differences of "making connections" under different societal conditions.

The first part explores the basis of innovation an d of learning as the fundamental ways in which firms adapt to new conditions.

Whilst the second partdeals with relationships that firms form with other firms and different sources of knowledge enable them to develop competitive capabilities amid changing technologies and markets.

The sequence of topics, from theory to local and nonlocal links to recent attempts to build and expand connections, brings the reader through the full range of relevant experience. The contributors to this volume include experts representing a dozen countries so their research provides a more global and comprehensive picture of connections than has been the case in previously published research.