Innovation and Entrepreneurial Networks in Europe

The entrepreneur is involved in the dance of two questions – what is needed and what is possible. The interplay of these two questions is an ongoing process and innovation varies internationally and regionally, depending on differing legal and policy systems, variations in the development of education and skill development, in social processes and in knowledge transfer. This book explores innovation and networks in entrepreneurship with an interdisciplinary approach, focusing on how old and new knowledge can be combined to produce radical innovation.

These chapters combine themes of entrepreneurship, innovation and networks with a specifically European focus, highlighting the wide variations at the national, regional and business level. These variations suggest the need to break with traditional stereotypes about Southern and Northern Europe. The book takes a Schumpeterian perspective, emphasising the importance of looking at the history of entrepreneurship and innovation, paying particular attention to the neglected area of innovation in services within firms.

Paloma Fernandez Perez has a PhD in history from the University of California and is Assistant Professor of Economic History at the University of Barcelona. Her research interests are family business, innovation, entrepreneurial networks, and lobbies. She has published El rostro familiar de la metropolis (Madrid, 1997) and Un siglo y medio de trefileria en Espana (Barcelona, 2004), has edited with P. Pascual Del metal al motor (Bilbao, 2007), and has published articles in Business History, Enterprise & Society, Business History Review, Revista de Historia Industrial, Revista de Historia Economica, and Investigaciones de Historia Economica. She is principal researcher of a project on entrepreneurial networks in Spain and member of the Centre d’Estudis Antoni de Capmany.

Mary Rose is Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in the Management School at Lancaster University, UK. She specialises in evolutionary approaches to innovation and the relationships between innovation, entrepreneurship and communities of practice. She has published widely on the evolution of business values, networking behaviour by family firms and the problem of leadership succession. Publications have included numerous articles in refereed journals and she has authored and co-authored three books and edited nine. With Mike Parsons she co-authored Invisible on Everest: Innovation and the Gear Makers (2003), which was winner of the 2005 Design History Society Prize and runner up for the 2004 Wadsworth Prize.