Do Regional and Non-regional Knowledge Flows Differ? An Empirical Study on Clustered Firms in the Dutch Life Sciences and Computing Services Industry

In the literature on innovation and geographical proximity, inter-organizational knowledge flows are increasingly acknowledged to take place at multiple spatial levels. Furthermore, the knowledge flows within and between regions are assumed to have different characteristics. Until now, hardly any study has examined those latter assumptions empirically. This study aims to provide empirical insights by analysing whether there are differences in the characteristics of regional and non-regional inter-organizational knowledge flows in the Dutch computing services and life sciences industry. The results indeed show significant differences. Confirming the assumptions in the literature, regional knowledge flows are characterized by a higher number of face-to-face contacts, while the knowledge exchanged through non-regional knowledge flows is more valuable. The relations between the duration and the social base of the knowledge flow and its spatial scale are less straightforward.