Heidi Wiig

WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP. (ed.) Edited by Léo-Paul Dana. Edward Elgar. Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA p. 411-426

Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift 1(1) p. 187-188 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2021.1928278

European Planning Studies 29(8) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2020.1849033

There is an increased need of understanding organizational and institutional underpinnings of firms’ global knowledge search. This paper addresses thick and diversified RIS in two different territorial contexts and explores firms’ use of physical and virtual space in their search of innovation relevant knowledge. Through interviews with ICT and new media SMEs from Scandinavia (Oslo, Malmö) and Beijing, findings show that low-cost and virtual search space is very important for innovation; furthermore, regional, global and virtual space co-evolve and mutually reinforce each other. Global search strategies differ between the two contexts, emphasizing the importance of a regional institutional-organizational framing supporting trust, collaboration and motivation for global search. In order to reap the benefits of the regional-global-virtual dynamics, being thick and diversified is not enough to have global reach and attractiveness

Food Ethics 5(11) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-020-00068-3

The term ‘sustainability’ is vague and open to interpretation. In this paper we analyze how firms use the term in an effort to make the concept their own, and how it becomes a premise for further decisions, by applying a bottom-up approach focusing on the interpretation of ‘sustainability’ in the Norwegian salmon-farming industry. The study is based on a strategic selection of informants from the industry and the study design rests on: 1) identification of the main drivers of sustainability, and 2) the application of five different discursive strategies to analyze how the firms maneuver to legitimize ‘sustainability’ in their conduct. We employ the Critical Discourse Analysis framework, which emphasizes how discourses provide different concepts of meaning. The sustainability concept is assessed based on how sustainability is brought into action by social actors in a legitimate way, and how this action results in sustainable practices. The empirical case of the study is the verbal justification of sustainability practices among representatives of the Norwegian salmon-farming industry. We aim to find out how these representatives translate the rather vague directives of the sustainability concept into legitimate choices that resonate with the firms’ contextual environment, hence, how the salmon farmers perceive, explore, interpret, explain, enact, and defend the diverse landscape of sustainability when implementing professional decisions. We found a trend of passive adaptation to external requirements, such as public regulations and regulative requirements from certification bodies. At the same time, there are progressive forces that attempt to improve the sustainability of the farming practices by involvement in research and innovation projects or cooperation with other firms, e.g. the contribution from offshore engineers in developing high seas farms. The strategies outlined and discussed cannot be seen as a typology to categorize the firms. More than one discursive strategy may be involved in one firm’s choice, and the strategies may work on different levels.

New Avenues for Regional Innovation Systems - Theoretical Advances, Empirical Cases and Policy Lessons p. 127-148 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71661-9_7

The literature on regional innovation systems emphasizes the role of the region as locus for interactive learning and knowledge exchange, stressing the importance of (geographical) proximity for innovation. Even though the importance of extra-regional knowledge is widely acknowledged, there has been only little emphasis on the particular role and the nature of global knowledge flows. The aim of this chapter is to explore the differentiated nature of global knowledge flows in regional innovation systems. We provide an overview of the different ways firms can gain access to global knowledge sources. Identified knowledge sourcing channels include international R&D collaborations, foreign direct investments, personally embedded relationships, international mobility of skilled labour, virtual communities and online platforms, and the participation in temporary clusters such as fairs, exhibitions, and conferences. Depending on regional innovation system preconditions, firms use and combine different knowledge sourcing channels to access global knowledge. Firms in organisationally thick and diversified regional innovation systems have a geographical advantage in accessing knowledge globally, but even firms in peripheral areas can exchange knowledge worldwide, due to improved means of transport and communication at distance. Furthermore, not only multinational companies that are dominated by analytical or synthetic knowledge bases, but even small and medium sized enterprises in symbolic industries are often deeply involved in global knowledge sourcing activities. We illustrate our arguments with interview data collected among New Media firms in southern Sweden and in the Oslo Region in Norway.

Entrepreneurship and Regional Development p. 1-14 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1552314

European Planning Studies 25(6) p. 904-922 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2017.1300238

European Planning Studies 25(3) p. 443-461 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2016.1273322

Handbook on the Geographies of Innovation p. 155-168

European Urban and Regional Studies 24(3) p. 274-289 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776416655860

For more than two decades, cluster theory has served as a basis for widespread implementation of regional development policies in several countries. However, there are still persistent struggles in academia towards agreement on clear operational definitions of a cluster. In this article, we argue that this definitional haziness, reflected by difficulties in demarcating the scale and scope of clusters, leads to a stretching of the cluster concept when put into practice. We show how actors, through cluster projects, are utilizing strategies of “hubbing” and/or “blending” to develop their own understandings of both what clusters are and what they might or should be. Through studies of three Norwegian cluster projects, we argue that national cluster policies, through translation of an academically vague concept, facilitate a stretching of the original definition of clusters, giving regional stakeholders leeway to integrate other theoretical rationales instead. We argue that this is not taken into account in current policies.

Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 27(9-10) p. 644-669 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2015.1059897

Forskning møter praksis p. 44-60

Research Policy 43(3) p. 495-504 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.08.003

Industry and Innovation 19(7) p. 563-584 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2012.726807

The article presents an analysis of a large-scale survey with the aim of understanding differences in the open, interactive and distributed nature of external innovation relations amongst firms belonging to different industrial knowledge bases. The thesis is that the source of critical innovation relevant knowledge differs between industrial knowledge bases, making the character and the need of openness contingent on these specificities. Accordingly, we anticipate that we will observe systematic variations in how industries access and combine innovation-related external knowledge. In our analyses we attempt to address a gap in the literature by examining how industrial knowledge bases affect the recombination of knowledge by analysing the different extents, forms (formal and informal) and geography of inbound open innovation. The article illustrates that features and structures of inbound open innovation align, to a large extent, with the industries' knowledge bases and that there is a interplay between an industry's knowledge base, the internal organisation of innovation processes and the channels and geography of inbound open innovation.

Journal of the Knowledge Economy 3(4) p. 389-405 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-011-0060-9

The main argument of this paper is that firms and industries are dominated by different innovation modes and that they therefore respond differently to challenges of globalisation. The paper differentiates between three modes: science, technology and innovation (STI), doing, using and interacting (DUI) application mode and the DUI technological mode. These innovation modes are based on different dominant knowledge bases, modes of learning and external knowledge. What is the implication of these differences with regard to competing in a global economy? Our empirical research shows that firms innovating according to the DUI application mode are in a position of negative lock-in due to severe competition from low-cost countries. The DUI technological mode firms are globally competitive due to a strong regional technological base built upon broad collaboration and a mixed innovation strategy. The STI firms are often part of international or national corporations, with a constant threat of being relocated to another country if they are not globally competitive.

The knowledge economy at work: skills and innovation in knowledge intensive service activities p. 23-40 Doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781003015.00011

Knowledge-Intensive Business Services : Geography and Innovation p. 99-121

Innovation, path dependency and policy. The Norwegian case p. 208-234

Diversity in the Knowledge Economy and Society: Heterogeneity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship p. 217-244

Isaksen, A. A. Karlsen og B. Sæther (red), Innovasjoner i norske næringer - et geografisk perspektiv

Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 98(2) p. 188-201

Regional Economies as Knowledge Laboratories

European Planning Studies 9(7) p. 871-887 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310120079814