From Knowledge-Based Economy to ... Knowledge-Based Economy? Reflections of Changes in the Economy and Development Policies in the North East of England

Abstract

Against the background of claims made about the emergence of a new Knowledge-based Economy, I explore the role of knowledge, learning and innovation in the economy and in relation to regional economic development and to successive conceptions of regional development policies through the lens of the successive transformations of a particular regional economy – that of north east England. Rather than seeing knowledge as something that has only recently become relevant to economic performance and to understanding of the economy and economic development, I argue that knowledge is central to all economic activity, and that different types of such activity draw upon and require different types of knowledge.