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Measuring social proximity in the geography of innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Marie Ferru

    (CRIEF [Poitiers] - Centre de recherche sur l'intégration économique et financière - UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers)

  • Marie-Pierre Renée Bes

    (ISAE-SUPAERO - Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace)

  • Michel Grossetti

    (LISST - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Solidarités, Sociétés, Territoires - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - UT - Université de Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Considering the role of interpersonal ties in the formation of innovation partnerships, the concept of social proximity has been increasingly used these recent years for the analysis of the geography of innovation. Nevertheless, the existing works reveal problems of measurement that prevent determining the precise weigh of social proximity in the partnerships build-up and deducing its effect on the geography of innovation. Our purpose is to fill in this gap by defining precisely social proximity as a modality of partners networking. On this basis, we propose an original method for empirically tracking the weigh and effects of social proximity, and we apply it to more than 200 cases of French science-industry collaborations. The combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to construct and analyze relational data makes it possible to reaffirm both the significant and stable role of interpersonal ties and its significant but variable effect on the geography of partnerships.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie Ferru & Marie-Pierre Renée Bes & Michel Grossetti, 2011. "Measuring social proximity in the geography of innovation," Post-Print halshs-01395667, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01395667
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01395667
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    References listed on IDEAS

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