Knowledge links in high-technology industries: Markets, networks or milieu? the case of the Vienna biotechnology cluster

Abstract

In recent years, the innovation process in biotechnology has become a subject of major interest to scholars from different disciplines. Despite an ever growing body of work, the nature of knowledge links and their particular geography remain a highly disputed issue. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on this topic. We will develop a model of knowledge interactions distinguishing between market relations, formal networks, spillovers and informal links. This model will then be used as a conceptual framework for an analysis of various types of knowledge flows in the emerging Vienna biotechnology cluster. We will show that knowledge exchange is a multifaceted phenomenon and that each type of knowledge interaction exhibits a specific geography. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.