Local innovation system

A Local innovation system is a spatial concentration of firms (including specialized suppliers of equipment and services and customers) and associated non-market institutions (universities, research institutes, training institutions, standard-setting bodies, local trade associations, regulatory agencies, technology transfer agencies, business associations, relevant government agencies and departments, et al.) that combine to create new products and/or services in specific lines of business.

A growing body of evidence suggests that there is something distinctive and systemic about innovation as a localized phenomenon, in which physical proximity, repeated transactions, and shared history and outlook combine to produce outcomes which cannot be predicted by the more familiar national innovation systems framework.

See also