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Courses Geography of Innovation (PUBP 6741) School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology - Fall 2011 Why do some places seem more innovative than others? What is it about these places that appeals to innovative businesses? Is there something about the city, state, or nation’s environment – such as its policies – that promotes innovation? The Geography of Innovation class addresses these questions by examining the various theories, examples, and policies that come together to explain why some geographic areas seem to attract more innovative activity. The class begins with a discussion of the various definitions, models, and measures of innovation to understand what innovation is in this context. The course then turns to geographical considerations and devotes roughly one third of the class to each of the following geographic levels: local/state, national, and international. The first third of the class introduces several leading theories for explaining why a region (e.g., locality or state) may be innovative including theories related with regional clustering, creativity and talent, the role of the university, entrepreneurship, and learning and resilience. Some case studies of regions in the context of these theories are examined. The course also assess some of the new multi-agency regional innovation cluster programs that have been implemented by the U.S. federal government over the past few years. The middle third of the class spotlights national geographies relative to their innovative capacities and outcomes. In this phase of the class, students read about national innovation system (NIS) theories. These NIS approaches are then applied to the U.S. and other national systems to examine how these distinctive systems influence policies and programs to provide business assistance. The last third of the class examines innovation from a global perspective. Is the world now “flat” – i.e. providing equal opportunity for countries across the planet to promote innovative activity – or are there certain parts of the world where such activity seems to concentrate? And if the latter is the case, how can we explain this concentration? This last section of the class introduces theories such as product life cycle, decentralization of R&D, global R&D networks, “born global” entrepreneurship, and open innovation in the context of international prize competitions.
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