Edited by Philip Cooke, formerly University Research Professor in Regional Development and Director, Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK and Andrea Piccaluga, Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Lecce and Research Associate, Laboratory of Economics and Management, St Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

• Contents: Introduction: The Scale Question in Knowledge Creation, Capture and Commercialization 1. Strategic Adaptation to the Knowledge Economy in Less Favoured Regions: A South Ostrobothnian University Network as a Case in Point 2. Higher Education and High Intellectual Unemployment: Does Education Matter? An Interpretation and Some Critical Perspectives 3. The Geography of Research Collaboration: Theoretical Considerations and Stylized Facts in Biotechnology in Europe and the United States 4. Knowledge Intensive Business Services and Regional Development: Consultancy in City Regions in Norway 5. The Cluster as a Nexus of Knowledge Creation 6. Knowledge Life Cycles Inside Local Economic Systems 7. High-Tech Industry Clustering Rationales: The Case of German Biotechnology 8. Industry–Science Relationships as Enhancing Regional Knowledge Economies: A Comparative Perspective from Japan and the UK 9. Placing Ireland’s Transition to a Knowledge Economy within a Global Context 10. The Spatial Dimension of Inter-Firm Learning: Case Study and Conceptualization 11. Knowledge, Values and Territory: A Case Study 12. The ‘Knowledge Economy’: A Critical View 13. Conclusions: Regional Economies as Knowledge Laboratories: Theories, Fashions and Future Steps Index

'The book covers a large variety of topics related to regional economies and knowledge economies. An important merit of this book is the use of case studies of regions and firms to illustrate arguments. . . The book will be very instructive for students as well as researchers interested in regional economics, policy makers and regional planners.'