ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to demonstrate how the triple helix model enables us to study the knowledge base of an urban economy in terms of civil society's support for the evolution of cities as key components of innovation systems. We argue that cities can be considered as densities in networks among three relevant sub-dynamics: the intellectual capital of universities, the industry of wealth creation and their participation in the democratic government of civil society. It goes on to suggest that the effects of these interactions generate dynamic spaces within cities where knowledge can be exploited to bootstrap the technology of innovation systems. In particular, spaces within cities that bootstrap the all-pervasive technologies of information-based communications (ICTs) to exploit the potential that such bottom-up reinventions have to be not only intelligent but smart in (re)generating the knowledge base of their regional innovation systems.
