Randstad Holland, the most urbanised area in the western part of the Netherlands, is one of the seven World Cities that were described in Peter Halls famous study of that name. World cities are those cities which have the highest level (in terms of both quantity and quality) of internationally...

A lively debate in the literature focuses on the potential for a firm to profit from a loca-tion in a knowledge intensive context. If localized knowledge spillovers are important, firms tend to locate in proximity to capitalize on the knowledge stock of each other and knowledge institutions. We...

The strong emergence of ICT in the past decades was accompanied by much research on the potential productivity boosting qualities of ICT: high productivity growth was expected. However, empirical evidence on the productivity impact of ICT stayed behind: the Solow paradox. Since then analytical...

How can cities and metropolitan regions remain prosperous and competitive in a rapidly changing economy? In our paper we argue that 'the knowledge economy' offers perspectives for growth and added value creation. The paper clarifies what elements the knowledge economy actually consists of, how...

In this paper we analyze the regional embeddedness of firm's networks in Dutch regions. Theorizing on urban economic networks is an important issue in the urban economic growth literature (Batten 1995, Hess 2004). For this, 2000 firms in basic sectors (industrial, business-services and...

Conceptually, the degrees of spatial and functional integration and urban complementarities in economic network relations are hypothesised to be important. In this paper, data on interfirm relations in the Dutch Randstad are used to test conditions for integration and the existence of economic...

In this paper we contribute to the longstanding discussion on the role of knowledge to economic growth in a spatial context. We observe that in adopting the European policy strategy towards a competitive knowledge economy, the Netherlands is—as most European countries—mainly oriented towards...

The contributions in this volume extend our understanding about the different ways distance impacts the knowledge conversion process. Knowledge itself is a raw input into the innovation process which can then transform it into an economically useful output such as prototypes, patents, licences...

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had an undeniable impact on our society. Some people argue that technology has projected us onto a new wave of social and cultural change. Nevertheless, despite the growth of technology and the social significance of its applications, we have...

In this paper we contribute to the longstanding discussion on the role of knowledge to economic growth in a spatial context. We observe that in adopting the European policy strategy towards a competitive knowledge economy, The Netherlands is – as most European countries - mainly oriented...