Proximity, Knowledge and Innovation in Peripheral Regions. On the Intersection between Geographical and Organizational Proximity

What role do various kinds of proximity play in the current and projected development of peripheral areas? In summarizing and drawing conclusions from this special issue on proximity, this paper elaborates on two core notions of proximity, geographical and organizational. It presents a framework in which the relationship between geographical and organizational proximity is conceptualized in a way that is somewhat different from previous contributions, notably by the French School on Proximity. The framework is used to evaluate the outcomes of the various contributions in this issue. The findings endorse the idea that economic performance relies more on localized capacities to build “global” connections, complemented with an adequate local resource base, than on local networking and clustering.