ABSTRACT
This volume set itself the challenge of presenting a better understanding of the relationship between space and learning that, on the one hand, recognizes the spatial embeddedness of learning but that, on the other hand, does not fall victim to the naïve territorialized approach of the territorial innovation models (TIM) literature. In doing so, this book connects to two related and important developments in the space-and-learning literature in the last decade. The first of these is the rise of what some have termed the relational approach, which argues that agents and their relations rather than space should be the object of analysis (Bogs and Rantisi 2003). Rather than looking at the region, those studying territorial innovation should look at the relationships that innovation actors have with other innovation actors, and what kind of limitations and opportunities this creates both for innovators and policymakers involved in innovation processes (Lagendijk 2007).
