ABSTRACT
The aim of the chapter is to explain the tendency of innovation activity to cluster in a few metropolitan areas. Urban areas are regarded as ‘creativity centres’, and recently labelled ‘islands of innovation’ which induce economic progress and technological innovation (Davelaar and Nijkamp, 1990; European Commission, 1995; Hingel, 1992; Simmie, 1998). The main explanation for their success is that agglomeration economies are much higher than elsewhere, so that the metropolitan area is often conceived as the breeding place for new activities.
