How It Really Works? a Study About Innovation and Proximity: an Explanatory Study of the Effects of Geographical and Cognitive Proximity on Innovation in the Public Sector

There are competing views in the literature about the influence of the level of geographical and cognitive proximity on the level of innovation. Many scholars agree that geographical proximity has a positive influence on the level of innovation. However, recent publications have criticised the importance of geographical proximity for innovation. They state that the current communication technologies (f.e. internet, e-mail) have the capacity to ?destroy' the distance between organizations. There is also a debate in the literature about the optimal cognitive distance between organizations. Hence, these competing views in the existing scientific literature ask for in-depth research about these topics.