Effects of the Internet on the spatial structure of innovation networks

Research on innovation systems and innovative milieux has shown that the innovation process of companies is strongly interrelated with activities of other firms and organizations. Internet is a new information and communication technology that is assumed to have a big potential to change such relationships and networks. An often held expectation is that the Internet will allow firms to interact with distant partners more easily and that, as a consequence, innovation networks become independent from geographical space. A contrasting view argues that local and regional networks and innovation systems will keep their importance, due to the fact that tacit knowledge, face-to-face communication and institutional factors are still of key relevance. Based on a survey of Austrian firms we are going to investigate how the Internet is changing innovation networks of companies with respect to new types of partners and the spatial extension of the network.