This paper discusses the role of so-called national champions within the context of the EU's ambitious goal to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic region in the world by 2010. We find football to be a useful analogy in our discussion of national champions. There are...

In this paper we outline a conceptual framework for depicting network development patterns of interfirm innovation networks and for analyzing the dynamic evolution of an R&D network in the German automotive industry. We test the drivers of evolutionary change processes of a network which is...

The flow of knowledge through interaction between innovative actors is central to the systemic view of innovation. We review the literature on interaction and innovator networks with a focus on regional aspects. To illustrate the relevance of these relations, we apply social network analysis...