Seminar by Dieter Kogler

SALA SEMINARI – 1° PIANO, PALAZZO LEVI CASES, VIA DEL SANTO 33 - ORE 12.30

04.10.2018

Seminar by Dieter Kogler, University College Dublin

Title: “The Evolutionary Process of Recombinant Knowledge Production – Balancing Entropy and Relatedness”

Abstract
Evolutionary Economic Geography offers a broad, though still evolving, framework that has at its core the production and destruction of novelty in space and the links between novelty and regional economic fortunes. A high degree of average relatedness among technological classes as indicated in regional knowledge spaces is expected to enhance inventive output as related technologies are more easily recombined into new knowledge. However, in the absence of diversity in the technological capabilities inherent to a region, possibilities to pursue novel recombination activities are limited. This logic follows an older debate regarding the benefits and restrictions exerted by patterns of regional economic specialization and diversity. Taking a more nuanced approach to the study of technological change in an evolutionary framework, the present study investigates the balance between entropy (diversity) and relatedness (specialization) in generating recombinant knowledge and subsequent regional technology branching opportunities.