Innovation is the main engine of competitiveness. However, in a world in which everything goes faster, the inherent nature of the innovation process has changed. This book assesses both the theoretically and empirically intertwined relationship between innovation, clusters and multinational enterprises in today's economy
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It is now well established that innovation is the main engine of competitiveness and economic growth. However, in this modern fast-paced world, the inherent nature of the innovation process has changed. On the one hand, the rapid technological revolution or the emergence of new countries on the international economic stage has underlined a shift towards a globalization of the economy. On the other hand, another trend towards a spatial concentration of economic and innovative activity has been identified. Despite the widening of the geographical options offered by globalization, production and innovation still appear particularly concentrated in specific locations and clusters are the ultimate representation of this regionalization stream. "The New Geography of Innovation" assesses both the theoretically and empirically intertwined - but surprisingly still relatively unexplored - relationship between innovation, clusters and multinational enterprises in today's economy. Based on a unique database of patent applications at the European Patent Office, this book not only emphasizes the marked discrepancies in terms of inventive performance between Swiss regions but also identifies the country's main inventive clusters, offers new insights on the internationalization of the innovation process and provides exclusive evidence of the importance of foreign clusters as a source of new knowledge
THE ECONOMICS OF INNOVATION 1. Preamble to the Study of Innovation 2. Innovation and Economic Performance 3. The Measurement of Innovation THE NATURE OF THE INNOVATION PROCESS AND THE NEW GEOGRAPHY OF INNOVATION 4. The Cognitive Nature of the Innovation Process 5. The Clustering of Innovative Activity 6. The Geography of Innovation in a Globalized Economy THE DISTRIBUTION OF INVENTIVE ACTIVITY - EVIDENCE FROM PATENT DATA IN SWITZERLAND AND FOCUS ON THE BASEL PHARMACEUTICAL CLUSTER 7. Geographical Distribution of Inventive Activities and Inventive Performance in Switzerland 8. Sectoral Distribution of Inventive Activities and Specialization Patterns - Towards an Identification of Switzerland's Main Inventive Clusters 9. Clusters and the New Geography of Invention - An Empirical Analysis of Pharmaceutical Patents demanded in the Basel Employment Basin
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Switzerland's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has traditionally been relatively high. The small size of the country, a natural resources shortage and the geographical location at the heart of Europe induced Swiss firms constantly to expand their activities abroad. This exposure to global markets is reflected in its OFDI. Although the global financial and economic crisis pushed the country into a recession and triggered a sharp decrease of OFDI flows, the Swiss OFDI stock continued to grow in 2008 and 2009. Thanks to a well-balanced economic structure based on innovation and knowledge and coherent government policies, Switzerland weathered, at least in the short-term, the effects of the crisis and set the path for a sustainable growth of OFDI.
Switzerland has constantly sought to build an open economy in which foreign actors have been a crucial element of the economic growth process. The quality of the business environment, the central geographic location in Europe and the stability of the political, legal and social system have traditionally attracted a relatively high-level of inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) to the country. However, this success should not be taken for granted. The current economic crisis and the globalization of the world economy are challenging the attractiveness of Switzerland as a FDI location. In a context of fierce competition among countries to attract FDI, Switzerland has constantly to improve the quality of its business environment in order to remain a competitive location for foreign investors.