Brian Wixted
Research Domain 2:
The Spatial Architecture of Business Innovation Systems
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Go to my blog http://econscapes.blogspot.com/
It is common in
the research literature to accept that innovation is shaped predominantly by
national characteristics. In this view, the spatial dimension of innovation is
encompassed by geo-political territories of great diversity in economic size.
Many other studies of innovation have emphasised sub-national characteristics
which although often smaller geographically and frequently focussed on
production systems are also typically limited by those
same political territories. These clusters
of activities are not just conceived as national but are often analysed as
enclaves with little reference to their relationships with the rest of the
world.
This paradigm of
national spatiality seemed not so much irrelevant as incomplete when I started
working on the connections between clusters in the late 1990s. This was
especially true when my frame of reference was a developed, peripheral
resourced based economy (
So how do we study innovation systems that cross political borders?
It has been long established that organisations do not innovate alone. The businesses and institutions around them provide a context and a web of interdependencies providing knowledge, people and supplies. These webs have been studied as national, cluster and technological systems. My focus is on how they operate in a multi-spatial context of multi-centre specialisation (cluster complexes). For a powerpoint presentation of this work, one can be downloaded here.
My research outputs in this domain include:
Micro-systems (Cities & specific
clusters)
Ø I am a researcher on the ISRN project specifically focussed on the Vancouver region and clusters analysis. For more information on the project go to http://www.utoronto.ca/isrn/city-region_initiative/index.html . For work so far go to http://www.utoronto.ca/isrn/publications/NatMeeting/index.html - 2009 Holbrook and Wixted.
Ø I am a researcher on a project led by Prof Anil Hira http://www.sfu.ca/politics/faculty/full_time/hira.html investigating a number of wireless clusters in a number of countries.
Meso-systems (Regional [provincial]
Jurisdictions)
Ø Amongst a number of other projects, of particular note here is the report Prof Jane Marceau and I prepared (2001) for the New South Wales Government on that State’s innovation system. A version of the work was later presented at a conference.
Macro-systems (National)
Ø I have worked on mapping the innovation system of a developing country (with Sam Garret Jones and Tim Turpin, 2003). We reported on the funding of R&D in Mozambique.
A copy of the final version which was based on our work is available in Portuguese here: https://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/Informacao/ciencia_e_tecnologia/indcadores_c_t_moc.pdf
Cluster Complexes (international)
My PhD Thesis explored the conceptual and methodological issues involved in mapping innovation systems across political borders. Typically ‘innovation systems’ have been defined as co-terminus with political borders. Further, as economic data is typically collected at various scales within these jurisdictions it is easier to describe scales of activities; clusters, cities, regions and nationally that do not extend across borders. However, with the knowledge that business relationships are often similar (though not a exact match) for innovation creating relationships it is possible to use inter-country input-output modelling to construct maps of cross border relationships. In my thesis I explored such relationships for the motor vehicle, aerospace and ICT production systems. I call the inter-cluster networks – cluster complexes.
Ø PhD (Beyond Borders) 2005. A pdf version is available here - warning large file http://www.sfu.ca/~bwa11/Innovation Systems Beyond Borders.pdf
Ø A summary of my main arguments is available in the working paper (2006) Cluster Complexes: http://www.sfu.ca/cprost/docs/06-04WixtedClusterComplexes2006.pdf
Ø I have written a non-technical OECD working paper (2006) explaining the benefits of large input-output databases which are integrated with trade data, and it is available here: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/6/34/37349386.pdf
Ø The ‘cluster complexes’ approach is not only a useful mental model for understanding the international spatial architecture of a particular activity it is also a useful tool for mapping the evolution of such systems across time. I have a DRUID conference paper that presents this approach. The International Spatial Organisation of the Motor Vehicle Production System: Place, Flows, Hierarchy and Evolution http://www2.druid.dk/conferences/viewabstract.php?id=376&cf=8
Ø I have a book chapter that examines the ICT cluster complexes between 1970 and 2000. Wixted, B. and Cooper, R. (2007) ‘The Evolution of OECD ICT Inter-Cluster Networks 1970-2000: An Input-Output Study of Changes in the Interdependencies Between Nine OECD Economies’ in Globalization and Regional Economic Modeling. Springer. See the book at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Globalization-Regional-Economic-Modeling-Advances/dp/3540724435/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product
Ø Innovation
System Frontiers: Cluster Networks and Global Value – Springer 2009.
Although this book is based on my PhD studies
is substantially revised particularly as in integrates a times series analysis
that covers the period 1970-2000.
Ø Recent economic transformations in the world economy are progressing in two divergent directions – international production fragmentation and industrial agglomeration. Based on extensive data analysis and using models of interdependencies between key economies, this book analyses innovation systems that cross national borders. It is shown that technological complexity is an important factor in the formation of highly specific production networks, and why, for a number of production systems, fragmentation and clustering are two sides of the same coin. By outlining the picture of a world economy structured around networks of clusters and joined together through systems of linkages of components, people and knowledge flows, the author helps to promote a better understanding of recent economic transformations.
Ø I also have work in progress that attempts to add geography into the analysis of economic rent which is a popular topic in the strategic management literature (which focuses on firms and industries). Go to http://www.sfu.ca/~bwa11/strategy.htm
Research Projects
Ø More information soon.
Teaching
Ø More information soon.
Interesting links
Ø OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_33703_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
Ø OECD STAN Database http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,3343,en_2649_34445_40696318_1_1_1_1,00.html
Ø World Input-Output Database, research project funded by the European Union http://www.wiod.org/index.htm
Ø REAL at real group at the University of Illinois http://www.real.uiuc.edu/index.html
Ø Globalization and World Cities Research Network http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/