The Increasing Importance of Geographical Proximity in Knowledge Production: An Analysis of US Patent Citations, 1975–1997

By J. Sonn, M. Storper. 2008

261 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Much literature suggests that knowledge-production activities are still heavily dependent upon geographically proximate sources of information, in spite of rapid development in telecommunications technology. Some analysts believe that the importance of proximity in knowledge production will eventually disappear with the continued development of telecommunications. The authors analyse patent citations and find that, after controlling for the existing distribution of knowledge-production activities, the proportion of local citations has increased over time. This finding reinforces the notion that in contemporary knowledge production and innovation the role for geographical proximity is increasing.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1759f8e3b7c6027389b579527a1e42de52e7939e

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In Economics and Econometrics

Citations in the corpus

Rethinking Human Capital, Creativity and Urban Growth (2008, background): “…people learn from one another within structured production communities, as represented for example by distinct spatial clusters of employment or patenting activity (e.g. in information technology; pharmaceuticals/life sciences; financial services) (Feldman, 1994; Acs, 2002; Sonn and Storper, 2008).”
Econometric modelling of the regional knowledge production function in Europe (2015, background): “Knowledge that is produced in one region may spill over into another, influencing its innovative performance (Moreno et al., 2005), and proximity facilitates more rapid diffusion (Sonn and Storper, 2008).”
Regional systems of entrepreneurship: the nexus of human capital, knowledge and new firm formation (2013, background): “The first stream focuses on the geographic pattern of knowledge spillover, and in most cases concludes that the spillover effects are localized (Jaffe et al., 1993; Anselin et al., 1997; Almeida and Kogut, 1999; Acs et al., 2002a; Peri, 2005; Sonn and Storper, 2008).”
Technological Relatedness and Knowledge Space: Entry and Exit of US Cities from Patent Classes (2015, background): “…and LEE, 2010), in inventors and inventor networks (BRESCHI and LISSONI, 2001; SINGH, 2005), in knowledge flows or spillovers (JAFFE et al., 1993; SONN and STORPER, 2008), in geographical and cognitive proximity (FISCHER et al., 2006), and on the types of knowledge produced (HALL et al., 2001;…”
Technology Parks versus Science Parks: does the university make the difference? (2013, background): “…geographical distances facilitate the establishment of links (Hervas-Oliver and Albors-Garrigos, 2009) and the transfer of knowledge, especially tacit knowledge (Howells, 2002), which tends to be locally bounded (Sonn and Storper, 2008) because its transfer requires face-to-face interactions.”
Patent citation data in social science research: Overview and best practices (2017, unknown): “Sonn and Storper (2008) show that, despite improvements in communications technologies, geographical localization has been increasing over time.”
The Rise of the “City-region” Concept and its Development Policy Implications (2008, background): “This applies to neoSchumpeterian (Smulders & van de Klundert, 1995; Dosi, 1988) and non-neo-Schumpeterian approaches to innovation (Audretsch & Feldman, 1996; Sonn & Storper, 2008), to creative-class narratives (Florida, 2002), or to institutional approaches (Storper, 1997, 2005).”