Urban System of Innovation: Main Agents and Main Factors of Success

The paper that follows studies the concept of the “urban system of innovation” and its possible methodological framework of analysis. The paper is structured as follows: Section one is the introductory section, in which the main idea of a system of innovation and how the city became gradually its main point of interest is analyzed. Section two deals with the theoretical and empirical analysis of the concept of the urban system of innovation, reviewing this way related studies and reports. Section three focuses on some methodological issues. Section four describes the examples of four urban systems of innovation, namely those of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston. Section five is a section that synthesizes in an attempt to first identify the key factors associated with the rise of these areas as successful cases of urban system of innovation and second propose a methodological framework for their analysis. This implies, among other things, identifying its main and secondary actors- players, posing their main field of policy action and describing the necessary interactions between them. The “urban system of innovation” concept is an emerging one, which means that it is now shaped, structured and developed. Malfunctions and distortions are part of its initial formation. The existing concept of innovation system doesn’t deal with the unique societal aspects that tend to be formed upwards and downwards the urban environment. An innovation system of such a small scale has to pay attention not only to the economic actors but also to the whole spectrum of societal challenges. Therefore, now it is the ‘critical’ time to put the basis for future successful cases.