Networks, collective learning and knowledge development

A conference on networks, collective learning and knowledge development will be held in Cambridge, United Kingdom, on 7 December 1998. It will be sponsored under the EU's Targeted Socio-Economic Research initiative (TSER) and will be organised by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.

The aim of the event is to report the findings of European researchers involved in an EU funded research network studying the development during the 1990s of key European regional clusters of innovative high-technology SMEs. The research addressed questions such as the role of SMEs in the growth of clusters, the influence of national and regional policies on their development, and the importance of links with universities and public research institutes to these SMEs.

The following topics will be presented during the conference:

- European regional clusters of high-technology SMEs: evolutionary trajectories in the 1990s;
- Regional, institutional and policy frameworks for high-technology SMEs;
- University research and spin-off: links and impacts;
- Large firm acquisitions, spin-offs and links in the development of regional clusters of technology-intensive SMEs;
- The importance of inter-SME networking and links in innovative high-technology environments;
- Conceptualising and practising collective learning: processes of knowledge development in European regional clusters of technology-intensive SMEs;
- Policy implications of collective learning and networking processes for European regional clusters of high-technology SMEs.
For further information, please contact:

European Conference Secretary
ESRC Centre for Business Research
Austin Robinson Building
University of Cambridge
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge CB3 9DE
United Kingdom
Tel. +44-1223-331567; Fax +44-1223-335768
E-mail: 1b221@econ.cam.ac.uk