Are cities the font of innovation? A critical review of the literature on cities and innovation

It has almost become a research premise, as opposed to a research question, that cities are the font of economic innovation. This review explores the connection between innovation and cities. In order to understand why this question arises, I first situate the exploration within the wider framework of the innovation discourse, and then within the more specific corpus of work that establishes a connection between innovation and territory. Although this territorial approach provides arguments and evidence in support of the prevailing idea that innovation is an urban phenomenon, there is also a disparate body of work that does not support this view. Two key questions emerge from this review. First, is it possible to distinguish the identification, marketing and promotion of innovation (that indeed occurs in cities, which are the loci of market power) from innovation itself (that does not necessarily occur in cities)? Second, given that innovation is understood to emanate from interactions and knowledge flows leavened by know-how and finance, does it make sense for innovation to be attached to any particular geographic or social milieu?

► Firm-level economic innovation is not a clearly defined concept, nor one that can be easily measured.
► Economic innovation is based upon external contacts, but also upon the internal capacities of firms.
► External contacts are not always territorialised, but require temporary face-to-face meetings.
► The idea that some places (e.g. cities) are more innovative than others is divisive and unproven.
► Cities centralise the market power to develop innovations but are not inherently more innovative.