The Emergence of Novel Science-Related Fields: Regional or Technological Patterns? Exploration and Exploitation in UK Nanotechnology

An extensive literature addresses the emergence of new technologies in their geographical and cognitive context. Drawing on a spatial innovation systems approach, our paper explores this issue for a newly emerging area, nano-science and nanotechnology. This study draws on a multimethod approach to explore the emergence of nanotechnology in the UK, covering bibliometric, patent and firm-level data. Our results point to regional concentrations of scientific and technological activity as well as a concentration of nanotechnology firms in the well-established ‘science hubs’. However, further inspection of the evidence hints also at the importance of non-local links and networks along technological paths.