The Local Innovation Systems Project, an international research partnership based at the Industrial Performance Center (IPC) at MIT, is addressing a central issue now confronting industrial practitioners and economic policymakers throughout the world: How can local economic communities survive and prosper in the rapidly changing global economy?

Our particular focus is on the role of innovation – in products, services, and processes – in promoting productivity growth and competitive advantage at the local and regional levels. National and local governments around the world, as well as other institutions with an interest in economic development, are greatly interested in creating and sustaining local environments that are attractive for innovation. Firms, too, recognize that their innovation performance is affected by their location.

We are currently engaged in the first phase of a projected multi-phase study. In the first phase of research, we are investigating the roles of universities and other public research institutions as creators, receptors, and interpreters of innovation and ideas; as sources of human capital; and as key components of social infrastructure and social capital. We are also investigating different approaches to individual and institutional leadership in locally-based systems of innovation. Later phases of our research will explore the process of enterprise growth and the ability of different locations to attract and retain innovating firms.

Preliminary findings from the first phase of research have recently been published.