Knowledge networks in space. Some thoughts of a Geographer on the RIS literature

The present paper discusses the spatial levels of the knowledge nets. For this purpose it sets off with some of the basic ideas of territorialized innovation theories. The paper focuses on the implications of a high mobility and globalization of the knowledge nets and argues that nowadays the knowledge spaces evolve, regardless the regional or even national borders. It develops an alternative approach to the regional innovation systems. Such an approach suggests understanding the role of the different types of proximities in the development of the knowledge nets. The cognitive, society and geographic proximities are seen as elements that enable the knowledge interchange among individuals as well as among economic agents at different spatial levels.