A historical investigation of the geography of innovative activities

Research and development activities, as well as all other economic activities, do not occur in a spaceless economy, but are related to particular geographical areas. This paper investigates to what extent technological activities have a tendency to concentrate in centres of excellence or to diffuse across many countries. A framework for the identification of different technological trends is created. The main findings of this paper show the existence of four different technological trends, two of them connected to the characteristics of the national system of innovation of countries and the other two related to the particular features of technology.