ABSTRACT
Can the knowledge base of an economy be measured? In this study, the perspective of regional economics and the triple-helix model on the interrelationships among technology, organization, and location are combined to offer the mutual information in three dimensions as an indicator of the knowledge base of an economy. When this probabilistic entropy is negative, the configuration reduces the uncertainty that prevails at the systems level. Data concerning more than a million Dutch companies are used for testing the indicator. The data contains postal codes (geography), sector codes (proxy for technology), and firm sizes in terms of number of employees (proxy for organization). The configurations are mapped at three geographical levels: national, provincial, and regional. The levels are cross-tabled with the knowledge-intensive sectors and services. The results suggest that mediumtech sectors contribute to the knowledge base of an economy more than high-tech ones. Knowledge-intensive services have an uncoupling effect, but less so at the high-tech end of these services.
