The project set out to investigate virtual temporary proximity as compared to physical temporary proximity as vehicles for enhancing knowledge production, co-production and diffusion. Virtual proximity has been made possible with the advancement of communication technologies and increased penetration of the Internet, where virtual meetings have been proposed as a cost- and time-effective alternative to physical conferences.
The project informs to both managers (especially of technology-intensive or science-based firms) and policymakers (at the country or regional, such as EU, levels) in terms of strategic knowledge production and spillover. Despite common critiques of some temporary events, the results show them to be worthwhile to attend, both in terms of disseminating work among peers and finding suitable collaborators. Our results suggest that policymakers in scientific funding agencies should consider supporting and fostering temporary colocation events as an effective alternative form of proximity that brings individuals together temporarily to exchange ideas and create ties outside of a researcher’s usual sphere of interactions. This is important especially since studies have shown that diverse views and breadth of knowledge lead to more impactful and creative innovations (Simonton, 1999).
Hence, temporary and virtual colocation provides a forum for interactions that can be cheaper and more effective alternative that affords managers some degree of flexibility before (over)committing (Ghemawat et al., 1998). Furthermore, temporary colocation also enables the formation of more distant ties (Sorenson et al., 2008) in addition to the more common local ties, hence diversifying the types of ties as well as the ideas that flow into the organization. More specifically, this work also informs whether managers of science and technology-intensive firms should pledge substantial funds for employees to participate in professional or academic conferences, as these events impact the subsequent direction of R&D activities. Thus, managers should be careful to choose conference topics that are appropriate for their organization’s innovation strategy, whether they are looking to exploit or explore existing technology portfolios and know-how.
Virtual conferences have the promise to considerably change the way researchers organize and meet temporarily to exchange ideas outside of their immediate geographically proximate neighbors, as the results of this study show that indeed their relative effects especially as a vehicle to establish further collaborative connections are greater than physical conferences where attendees can interact face-to-face. Thus, there is also great potential for policymakers and managers to employ this vehicle of virtually meetings as a cost and time effective alternative to physical conferences, as well as an even more cost effective alternative to permanent colocation.
