Knowledge Angels, Creative Behaviors, and Emerging Innovation Modes: Observations from Alsace, Baden-Württemberg, and Catalonia

The undeniable importance of knowledge and innovation in modern economies justifies the increasing interest that scholars are taking in studying knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Since the mid 1990s, there has been a significant increase in the attention paid to KIBS and their role and functions in innovation systems (Illeris, 1991; Miles et al. 1995; den Hertog, 2000; Strambach, 2001; Muller and Zenker, 2001; Wood, 2002a; Tether, 2005). In general terms, the activity of KIBS can be mainly described as the provision of knowledge-intensive inputs to the business process of other organizations, private as well as public sector clients. In more precise terms, Miles et al. (1995, p. 18) define KIBS as “services that involve economic activities which are intended to result in the creation, accumulation or dissemination of knowledge.” Den Hertog (2000, p. 505) emphasizes professional knowledge as basic for KIBS’ professional activities, “i.e. knowledge or expertise related to a specific (technical) discipline or (technical) functional-domain to supply intermediate products and services that are knowledge-based”, while Bettencourt et al. (2002, pp. 100–1) focus on the accumulation, creation, and dissemination of knowledge “for the purpose of developing a customized service or product solution to satisfy the client’s needs.”