Proximity and Innovation networks. Evidence from an Italian cluster

The role of proximity in innovation and inter-organisational networks has recently received increasing attention in management, organisational, economic geography, and regional studies. Despite the rich literature devoted to these themes, most contributions on networks are mainly static as they focus more on the network structure than network dynamics. The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamics of innovation networks. This will be done by analysing how actors form network ties for innovation according to their proximity, adopting an evolutionary perspective. Proximity is understood on a multidimensional level, considering geographical, cognitive, organisational, institutional, and social proximity. The analysis investigates the cluster of High Technology applied to Cultural Goods in Tuscany and adopts an advanced econometric method as the Stochastic Actor Oriented Models to investigate the evolution of the network over a time period of over 15 years.