Knowledge access and location decisions in biotechnology: the spatial dimension of social networks

Abstract

This paper addresses the spatial dimension of knowledge sourcing strategies, investigating the role played by social networks on the access to scientific and technological knowledge by new biotechnology firms. Our approach takes into consideration the impact of various forms of proximity - geographical, social, cognitive and organisational - on the development of key relationships, as well as on their use for knowledge acquisition. It enables us to assess the relative importance of local and distant knowledge sources and to explain the entrepreneurs’ decisions in terms of network mobilisation.