Originally published in 1988, this book explores how new technologies, industrial innovation and the growth of high technology industry have affected regional employment and economic change in different European countries. It discusses the factors which make some areas better suited than others to the development of the new industries, emphasising how fuctional integration and dependence upon highly-qualified manpower tend to concentrate these industries in particular locations. Attempts to encourage innovation and the development of high technology industry in old industrial areas are discussed, with particular reference to the role of large firms, training programmes and government policies.

This title was first published in 2000: This text presents a study of collective learning, networking and high-technology regions in Europe. It first provides an overview of the subject area, then goes on to discuss topics such as the role of inter-SME networking and collective learning processes in European high-technology milieux.

Technopoles - planned centres for the promotion for high- technology industry - have become a key feature of national economic development worldwide. Created out of a technological revolution, the formation of the global economy and the emergence of a new form of economic production and management, they constitute the mines and foundries of the information age, redefining the conditions and processes of local and regional development. This book is the first systematic survey of technopoles in all manifestations: science parks, science cities, national technopoles and technobelt programmes. Detailed case studies, ranging from the Silicon Valley to Siberia and from the M4 Corridor to Taiwan, relate how global technopoles have developed, what each is striving to achieve and how well it is succeeding. Technopoles of the World distills the lessons learnt from the successes and failures, embracing a host of disparate concepts and a few myths, and offering guidelines for national, regional and local planners and developers worldwide.

Index and bibliographical references included.

This book documents the changing nature and challenge of regional development in Britain and Ireland in the final decade of this century. In the first half of this book, region-by-region profiles review the experience of the eighties and reflect on the present climate, assessing problems and opportunities. The second half provides 25 commentaries on changes influencing the development of regions from questions of industry, technology and employment to the impact of national policy and 1992, and the prospects and capacity for regional policy and development.

Innovation is a time-consuming process that involves invention as a beginning and a marketable service or product as an end. But innovation itself, once concluded, is not necessarily a constructive act as some innovations yield positive and some negative results. The way we recognize and develop innovation—so often a serendipitous and almost invisible act in its beginning—is thus a matter of primary importance in today's world where new thoughts and products play such a crucial role in economies across the globe. Nowhere is the general support structure required for success in innovation more starkly illuminated than in the fields of science and medicine, where human well-being is so manifestly at stake. In this work, which draws together the perspectives of a multidisciplinary group of professionals—medical doctors, innovation policy analysts, and academics in business management—Shantha Liyanage and his colleagues provide a thorough examination of the technology innovation process, and display its critical links with organizational functions, so the innovative capacities of organizations can be better prepared to meet the rapid changes of our age.

Technology-based firms contribute to dynamic competition, ensure product variety, close market gaps and promote job creation. Their development is impeded by a difficult access to capital, high R&D costs and management deficits. The book analyses their chances and risks in the innovation process. Topics deal with the management of technology-based firms, different aspects on their financing, the spectrum of public promotion programmes and the venture capital market in Germany. Finally, the book centres on regional technology and economic promotion and the creation of regional networks for technology-based firms. The reader documents research of Fraunhofer-ISI on technology-based firms and their environment and aims at a better understanding of specific chances and risks in the development process of such firms.

Across a line drawn from New York to Los Angeles, the level of cconomi