ABSTRACT
It is common today to consider that knowledge creation is the basis of economic growth for a firm (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995) or that learning regions (Florida 1995) or regional innovation systems (Cooke, Gomez Uranga, and Etxebarria 1997) are the basis for regional competitiveness. This regional competitiveness is due to the synergistic interaction between individuals and resources and has been discussed in terms of geographic clusters, industrial districts or tourism destinations (Hjalager 2000, 2010). However, it is less clear as to how and why innovation, creativity or synergy should be enhanced in a geographically constrained area although most recently there has been an emphasis on the importance of collaborative social interaction as a major factor in explaining this phenomenon.
