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Project

Global Cities as Knowledge Hubs: Multinational Firms, Connectivity and R&D Locations

Multinational firms’ knowledge creating activities have become increasingly global in scope, yet tend to be concentrated in a distinct set of geographic knowledge hubs. The world’s leading internationally connected cities (‘global cities’) act as such knowledge hubs and host a disproportional share of high skilled workers, universities and innovative firms. The aim of this research project is to generate an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of international knowledge connectivity of global cities and these cities’ role in multinational firms’ global R&D allocation and innovation. We examine how global cities’ international (inter)connectivity, i.e. their position in international scientific and technological knowledge networks, have evolved and what the heterogeneous characteristics of global cities’ network relationships are in terms of the actors involved, technological specialization, and the geographic diversity and knowledge strength of network ties. Subsequently, we examine the role of cities’ international knowledge connectivity as a driver of multinational firms’ global R&D investment allocation, and the potential performance consequences for multinational firms of locating R&D activities in connected global cities. The analysis covers 100 major cities across the continents and more than 1000 multinational firms based in a variety of countries.
Date:1 Oct 2017 →  30 Sep 2021
Keywords:multinationals
Disciplines:Applied economics, Economic history, Macroeconomics and monetary economics, Microeconomics, Tourism