ABSTRACT
This chapter charts the history of the knowledge economy by looking at the changing relationship between knowledge and economic development. It examines the origins of the knowledge economy in more detail against the backdrop of global forces and the general shift from industrial to post-industrial societies. The narratives, drivers and manifestations of the knowledge economy are examined, along with the range of influences – exogenous and endogenous – which have shaped the development of responses. The chapter looks at the changing expectations that are placed upon knowledge and the key factors that frame the potential of knowledge for the economy: spatial developments, universities and expertise. It concludes that cities, institutions and forms of knowledge have become the targets of policy, reified into objects to be managed for economic success. The dynamics of the knowledge economy are not just implemented through them, but mediated by them and informed through circuits of knowledge.
