Globalization, Regional Development, and the Evolving Local University Role: The Case of Vestfold, Norway

Abstract

The competitiveness of firms and regions in a globalizing economy rests on their ability to continuously develop and exploit specialized knowledge assets. The development of such assets is contingent on the activities and networks maintained by individual firms (Giuliani 2005); on the composition of the industrial structure (Boschma and Iammarino 2009; Frenken et al. 2007); and on mechanisms that enable knowledge to flow and recombine between activities. As products and processes are becoming increasingly complex and the global division of labor deepens, firms are forced to draw on a wide range of component technologies and complementary capabilities (Rothaermel et al. 2006) and combine leading scientific insights with specialized, experience-based knowledge. Thus, innovation at the firm level is becoming embedded in global innovation networks. These processes link long-term regional development more tightly to the ability to develop and institutionalize an infrastructure for knowledge development and diffusion, which functions independently of whether or not industry maintains local supply chain collaboration.