Innovation and the city
Glenn Athey
East of England Development Agency (EEDA), Cambridge, United Kingdom
Max Nathan
Centre for Cities and Geography and Environment Department, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom
Chris Webber
Analyst, Centre for Cities, London, United Kingdom
Sami Mahroum
Research Director, NESTA, London, United Kingdom
PP: 156 - 159
Abstract
Innovation is an increasingly globalised phenomenon but the highest rates of visible innovation are found in and around cities.
This paper explores the ‘urban factors' that support innovative activity, focusing on English cities. Agglomeration economies can help explain both cities' resilience and the characteristics of urban markets, assets, networks and institutions that help innovation to take place. A high-level explanatory framework is set out, using the concepts of ‘urban hubs' and ‘local links' to draw together these ideas.
The framework is then explored using five case studies from the UK and abroad. The findings suggest a number of different ‘innovation trajectories' for different city types. Innovation policymakers should pay more attention to improving urban infrastructure, skills and critical mass, and should devolve strategy-making towards pan-regional and sub-regional actors.
Keywords
innovation, cities, fashion, ICT, automotive, biotechnology
Article Text
The literature on the increasingly globalised nature of innovation is enormous, particularly that dealing with multinational corporations and global trade. However, less work has been done on the spatial aspects of innovation, which is an important dimension of the globalisation process. This is because innovation activities, personnel and expenditure tend to be geographically concentrated or clustered. It is also because certain geographical areas tend to be associated with significant levels of innovation activity and success, such as Silicon Valley for semiconductors, London for hedge funds, or Paris for fashion.
Cities provide an ideal environment for innovation as they offer proximity, density and variety. However, some cities are more innovative than others, and policymakers have long been concerned with finding out why. Unpacking this problem requires considerable effort. Cities are complex systems and they exist in the context of diverse regions, nations and international relationships. Moreover, cities themselves rarely innovate - they are hosts for innovation by people, firms and organisations. This means that cities often support innovation indirectly and that some of the most important things they do are not thought of as innovation policy at all. This article presents an initial consideration and analysis of which particular urban features, processes or assets may be important in enabling, sustaining and promoting innovation.
The paper draws on a 12-month research project carried out in 2007 focusing on cities in the UK and Germany. The paper uses the term ‘city' to mean the spatial area that comprises a functional urban economy. In the UK, the title ‘city' has no statistical or technical definition - it is a title conferred on a settlement by a royal charter. This paper therefore focuses on the ‘economic city' - functional urban economies of scale - and uses statistics from the largest 56 functional urban economies in England. When we refer to ‘cities' in this paper, we mean a large urban area, based on a functional urban economy. ...continues...
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