Call for Papers
GLOBAL NETWORKS, INNOVATION AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
The INFORMATIONAL REGION AS A DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
November 11-13, 1999
University of California, Santa Cruz
A conference sponsored by
Center for Global, Regional and International Studies, UC Santa
Cruz
Institute for International Studies, UC Berkeley
UC Pacific Rim Research Program
Global Networks, Innovation and Regional Development will explore how
new networks based upon production, technology and social relations have
transformed development options for regional actors. Under rapid
globalization, new information technologies have integrated local regions
within a global web of dynamic networks while empowering local actors to
capture certain advantages. At the apex of this web is Silicon
Valley, the exemplary model for the new informational economy. The
“informational region” has generated new relationships among firms,
workers, and social institutions which, in turn, have been reinforced by
the deepening of global production, financial, labor, technological,
ethnic, and ecological networks. Many researchers argue that
knowledge produced by these diverse networks creates comparative
advantages and rapid growth for selected local regions. Others are
skeptical. Sorting out myth from reality as well as assessing the
potential of this model is a daunting task. Accordingly, the
conference aims to: (1) deepen our understanding of how global
production and social networks reinforce each other at the regional
level; (2) evaluate whether and how “governance” institutions and
social capital endowments help explain successful regional strategies;
and (3) assess the human and ecological costs of the model for local
actors increasingly incorporated into global networks. As the archetype
of the new informational region, Silicon Valley and its imitations figure
prominently in this research agenda. The organizers are especially
interested in papers that measure the social and environmental costs as
well as institutional and social explanations for the celebrated benefits
of the informational network as an engine of regional development.
To realize these goals, the conference organizers wish to encourage
papers focusing on four broad themes, outlined below, which bracket
pivotal issues surrounding informational networks and regional
development. Diverse viewpoints and innovative perspectives on
informational networks are encouraged as well as related topics that
challenge conventional analyses. The organizers encourage submission of
“works in progress” as well as finished papers. Authors of selected
papers will be invited to contribute to an edited volume for submission
to a university press for publication.
Themes and Questions
1. Silicon Valley Myths and Realities: Is the
model replicable or unique in time and place? Critical evaluation of
existing explanations: openness to innovation, venture capital resources,
the risk-taking culture, state/defense spending, knowledge/technology
infrastructures of the San Francisco Bay Area.
2. The Interaction of Economic and Social Networks: What
explains shifting regional specialization among innovative regional
centers? How can sub-contracting transfer knowledge so as to capture
innovation and value? How are benefits successfully
transferred? Who benefits socially? How do global labor
markets and immigration patterns impact regional development? What are
the gains from interactions among ethnic social networks and productive
networks? Does electronic commerce utilize social and economic
networks?
3. Governance Institutions and Regional Development
Strategies: How can public-private initiatives contribute to
innovations that maximize regional advantages? Assessing successful
governance models: regional development agencies, commerce and trade
associations, joint ventures, national state initiatives, educational
partnerships. What does regional social capital mean in a global,
informational network? How can regional actors incubate
informational industries? Regional educational institutions and human
resources: what are the best practices?
4. Labor and Environmental Challenges of the Informational
Regional Model: What is the role of labor in the knowledge economy?
The digital divide in networked regions: how universal is the shift from
paternalism to labor-sub-contracting? How can workers’ health be
protected via the network? Strategies for supporting workers’
rights and environmental health standards within global production
networks? “Best practices”: what is “clean” about the information
industry? What’s the future for green production
networks?
Proposals and papers should be submitted by email to:
global@cats.ucsc.edu
Conference Details are available through the CGIRS website at: