ABSTRACT
Within the innovation literature there is a focus on co-location to enable innovative activities. The main reason behind this is the assumption that these activities are complicated and require the transfer of tacit knowledge which is hard to complete over geographical distances (Bathelt et al., 2002; Daft and Lengel, 1986). There are, however, examples, in our country and region, of companies, units of companies, individual teleworkers and innovation networks which have been successful in innovation activities even when they are located in remote locations or operating in a distributed mode. The proximity concept has captured a prominent position in the scientific literature dealing with innovations, inter-organisational collaboration and regional development, as well as partially within the organisation and leadership literature. When the concept of proximity is used, what is often actually meant is geographical proximity. Nevertheless, other forms of proximity, such as organisational, social and cognitive proximity have been introduced. These complementary concepts could contribute to explaining why it is possible to carry out innovation activities even in remote locations.
