Lee, Neil 
ORCID: 0000-0002-4138-7163 and Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés ORCID: 0000-0002-8041-0856
(2013)
Original innovation, learnt innovation and cities: evidence from UK SMEs.
Urban Studies, 50 (9).
pp. 1742-1759.
ISSN 0042-0980
Abstract
One of the key benefits of cities is that they allow the exchange of knowledge and information between economic actors. This may have two effects: it may create the conditions for entirely new innovations to emerge; and, it may allow firms to learn innovations from those nearby. Yet few studies have considered the impact of an urban location on whether innovations are original or learnt. This paper tests these hypotheses using survey evidence for over 1600 UK SMEs. It is shown that, while urban firms tend to be both product and process innovators, urban firms are disproportionately likely to introduce process innovations which are only new to the firm, rather than entirely original. Instead, the urban advantage in product innovation appears to come from a combination of the effects. The results highlight a need for a nuanced view of the link between cities and innovation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://usj.sagepub.com/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2013 Urban Studies Journal Ltd. |
| Divisions: | European Institute Geography & Environment Spatial Economics Research Centre |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jun 2013 10:36 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2024 05:23 |
| Projects: | 269869 |
| Funders: | European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme, (FP7/2007-2013) |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/50910 |
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