Measuring Inter-Cluster Interdependencies

The goal of this project is to contribute to the understanding of the ways separate innovation systems interact within a multi-spatial economic environment. To this point, this has been done through an extensive overarching review of the literature vis-à-vis national innovation systems and sub-national innovation systems. It has also required the need for a specific focus within such a broad research agenda. That focus has been confined here to the role and scale but particularly the spatial structure of cross-border interdependencies. This extends the relationship based perspective that contends that knowledge flows within a local or national environment have fostered clustering and innovation, to those interdependencies that stretch across borders. Ideally, to analyse the latter type of linkages, a researcher would be able to draw upon a wealth of data collected by statistical agencies on the sources of product component being traded across international and regional borders. There would also be ongoing research into the nature of global innovation networks. Unfortunately, the former is hard to determine even for international trade (see Wixted et al. 2006), let alone internationalised innovation (see, e.g. DeBresson et al. 1998).