| Abstract: |
An extensive amount of studies have been devoted to the importance of the
creative process. Creativity is critical to research and in particular to
innovation, a key feature of economic competitiveness. Most of the previous
studies have dealt with the creativity of individuals, the creativity of teams
and the importance of the organisational context. This chapter, however,
emphasises the role of the characteristics of the local and regional economic
milieu where the creative process takes place and the local and non-local
networks of such milieus. Both the local ‘buzz’ related to interaction and
learning opportunities, and non-local networks associated with integration of
different milieus, offer special but different advantages for creative
activities. The milieu will play an important role in creativity by supplying
both a large number of incompatible ideas and good conditions for bringing
them together in order to gain new, profound insights. Local accessibility,
i.e. clustering, of incompatible ideas and the interregional accessibility to
incompatible ideas in other regions are a function of the network
characteristics of the local milieu. The purpose of this chapter is to explore
the spatial concentration of creativity and the role of clustering and
networks in stimulating creative regional economic milieus. One of the
arguments of the chapter highlights how clustering of creative agents and
creative processes in specific locations generates creative advantages that
stimulate creativity and the in-migration of creative agents. Furthermore, the
chapter stresses the idea that a better connected economic milieu to other
economic milieus via networks transmitting new ideas, information knowledge,
etc., will generate higher creative potential of that economic milieu. |