Proximity and Innovation Through an “Accessibility to Knowledge” Lens

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of the spatial diffusion process of knowledge in terms of accessibility, and also to elaborate a new measurement and evaluation tools adapted to a concrete estimation of these phenomena. This approach offers ways of giving an operational content to the concept of proximity. We enrich the “potential functions” used to measure geographical accessibility with the integration of the characteristics of knowledge diffusion, namely sources of externalities/knowledge, ways of transmission and absorptive capacity. We especially focus on the relational and strategic dimensions of proximity, using some developments from social networks analysis. Such an approach leads to new empirical models for estimating the determinants of accessibility to knowledge.