The Geography and Structure of Global Innovation Networks: Global Scope and Regional Embeddedness

The increasing de-localization of innovation activities to and from emerging economies has triggered a growing interest among scholars of diverse disciplines in understanding the drivers and consequences of the increased globalization of innovation activities; In doing so, a variety of concepts have been used, from global value chain to global production networks and global innovation networks. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of what we know about the structure and the geography of these global innovation networks, by looking, in particular, at the geographic concepts that underpin current work on global innovation networks as well as the spatial implications of the increased globalization of innovation activities.