IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa06p429.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Innovation Hot Spots: the Case of the Computer Services Sector in the Region of Attica, Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Ioannis Katsikis

  • Klas Eric Soderquist
  • Gregory Prastacos

Abstract

Elaborating on the notion innovation hot spots, we examine the case of the computer services sector in the Region of Attica, Greece. Fast-growing, geographically and industrially clustered firms are becoming an increasingly important factor for innovation and regional development. As a result, innovation hot spots enjoy rapid growth, leading to job creation, knowledge expansion and, in the best cases, sustainable development. The most recent European Trend Chart Reports (2004 and 2005) present Greece as innovation leader in the computer services sector. Computer services are characterized by a high knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion intensity meaning that the hot spots exploiting such services position high on an innovation intensity scale. Consulting, implementation, operations management and support services enjoy similar growth since they are complementary industries forming the Attica IT innovation hot spot. The purpose of our research within this field is twofold. First, we present the conditions under which this innovation leadership has emerged and come to flourish. We argue that growth in the Region of Attica has been boosted by the Information Society Program, the Olympic Games and the necessity for modernizing Greek firms, which leads them to favor investments in new technologies. Moreover, the region presents a favorable macroeconomic environment, characterized by high rates of development, increase of consumption and investments. Second, we analyze and propose a framework for maintaining the dynamics in the region -and in innovation hot spots in general- as there is a significant risk of rise-and-fall patterns occurring, leading to former hot spots transforming into “blind spots†, and core competencies developed turning into core rigidities and cultural lock-in.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioannis Katsikis & Klas Eric Soderquist & Gregory Prastacos, 2006. "Innovation Hot Spots: the Case of the Computer Services Sector in the Region of Attica, Greece," ERSA conference papers ersa06p429, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p429
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa06/papers/429.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlsson, Bo & Jacobsson, Staffan & Holmen, Magnus & Rickne, Annika, 2002. "Innovation systems: analytical and methodological issues," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 233-245, February.
    2. Frank Moulaert & Farid Sekia, 2003. "Territorial Innovation Models: A Critical Survey," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 289-302.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bernhard Truffer, 2008. "Society, Technology, and Region: Contributions from the Social Study of Technology to Economic Geography," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(4), pages 966-985, April.
    2. Markard, Jochen & Truffer, Bernhard, 2008. "Technological innovation systems and the multi-level perspective: Towards an integrated framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 596-615, May.
    3. Zhigao Liu & Yimei Yin & Weidong Liu & Michael Dunford, 2015. "Visualizing the intellectual structure and evolution of innovation systems research: a bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(1), pages 135-158, April.
    4. Rakas, Marija & Hain, Daniel S., 2019. "The state of innovation system research: What happens beneath the surface?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    5. Borsi, Balázs & Bajmócy, Zoltán, 2009. "Kvantitatív leszakadás, kvalitatív felzárkózás?. A hazai regionális innovációpolitika kihívásai [Quantitative lag, qualitative catch-up?. The challenges for this countrys regional innovation policy," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 933-954.
    6. Raffaella Taddeo & Alberto Simboli & Giuseppe Ioppolo & Anna Morgante, 2017. "Industrial Symbiosis, Networking and Innovation: The Potential Role of Innovation Poles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Kuebart, Andreas & Ibert, Oliver, 2019. "Beyond territorial conceptions of entrepreneurial ecosystems: The dynamic spatiality of knowledge brokering in seed accelerators," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63(2-4), pages 118-133.
    8. Rehák Štefan & Hudec Oto & Buček Milan, 2013. "Path dependency and path plasticity in emerging industries: Two cases from Slovakia," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 57(1-2), pages 52-66, October.
    9. Jonas Heiberg & Bernhard Truffer, 2021. "The emergence of a global innovation system – a case study from the water sector," GEIST - Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2021(09), GEIST Working Paper Series.
    10. Pandza, Krsto & Ellwood, Paul, 2013. "Strategic and ethical foundations for responsible innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 1112-1125.
    11. Pradeep Racherla & Munir Mandviwalla, 2013. "Moving from Access to Use of the Information Infrastructure: A Multilevel Sociotechnical Framework," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 709-730, September.
    12. Nicola Francesco Dotti & André Spithoven, 2018. "Economic drivers and specialization patterns in the spatial distribution of Framework Programme's participation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(4), pages 863-882, November.
    13. Antoine Grandclement & Guilhem Boulay, 2021. "From The Uneven De-Diversification Of Local Financial Resources To Planning Policies: The Residentialization Hypothesis," Post-Print halshs-03322259, HAL.
    14. Fragkandreas, Thanos, 2025. "Case study research on innovation systems: Paradox, dialectical analysis and resolution," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    15. Ferretti, Marco & Guerini, Massimiliano & Panetti, Eva & Parmentola, Adele, 2022. "The partner next door? The effect of micro-geographical proximity on intra-cluster inter-organizational relationships," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    16. Piotr Zientara, 2008. "Polish Regions in the Age of a Knowledge‐based Economy," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 60-85, March.
    17. Ebersberger, Bernd & Edler, Jakob & Lo, Vivien, 2006. "Improving policy understanding by means of secondary analyses of policy evaluation: a concept development," Discussion Papers "Innovation Systems and Policy Analysis" 12, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    18. José Corpataux & Olivier Crevoisier & Thierry Theurillat, 2009. "The Expansion of the Finance Industry and Its Impact on the Economy: A Territorial Approach Based on Swiss Pension Funds," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(3), pages 313-334, July.
    19. Jakub Sawulski & Marcin Galczynski & Robert Zajdler, 2018. "A review of the offshore wind innovation system in Poland," IBS Working Papers 06/2018, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    20. Rogge, Karoline S. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2009. "The impact of the EU ETS on the sectoral innovation system for power generation technologies: findings for Germany," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S2/2009, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p429. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.