Technology districts: proximity and knowledge access

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse if and how technology districts use proximity dimensions (such as geographical, organizational, and cognitive) as a communication resource for accessing external knowledge sources. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve this purpose, the organizational and cognitive links between technology districts' actors and external ones are identified and then the new geographical boundaries of the districts are drawn. A case study related to an Italian technology district (Torino Wireless) is provided in order to identify how different research organizations located in the district use proximity dimensions for reaching knowledge sources external to the district, then re‐shaping its geographical boundaries. Findings – The empirical study enables identification of the actors connected to the technology districts by means of geographical, organizational, and cognitive proximity, and their locations. Moreover, results show that organizational proximity is mainly adopted to link actors located near the district area. While, cognitive proximity is mainly adopted to connect actors geographically distant from the district. Research limitations/implications – As regards technology district strategic behaviour, it seems particularly crucial to exploit all the three dimensions of proximity. In particular, the technology district of Torino Wireless should increase its use of organizational proximity to be connected with external knowledge sources. Originality/value – The paper proposes a methodology for identifying the external actors connected with the technology districts by means of proximity. Furthermore, the relationships between organizational and geographical proximity, and cognitive and geographical proximity are also investigated.