European Regional Science Association
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European Regional Science Association
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The abstract for paper number 490:
Thomas Paulsson, Börje Johansson, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden
Spatial Dynamics of ICT-Industries – Is Size All That Matters? - Some Swedish Lessons from ICT-Growth
It is a well-established fact that new and non-standardised types of industrial goods or service production initially almost exclusively tend to grow in metropolitan regions. These regions serve as an import hub and often demonstrate the required magnitude, diversity and sophistication of demand to facilitate the establishment of new markets. If successful, standardisation of goods and services will take place over time and demand and supply may diffuse regionally.
In this paper the Swedish ICT-sector (information and communication technology) is subdivided into a fine structure of sub-sectors or industries and it is analysed to what extent the growth of individual ICT-industries can be attributed to urbanisation effects (in contrast to co-localisation effects). The results indicate that for most types of ICT-activities it is impossible to reject a hypothesis of a dominating urbanisation effect. Hence, size seem to be instrumental to generate growth in ICT related goods and service production. In fact, it is not uncommon for smaller regions to be virtually excluded from ICT-production.
Unfortunately full paper has not been submitted.