Public-Private Partnerships for the Knowledge Economy: The Case of Innovation Centers

Abstract

In the late 2000s, new spaces — such as co-working, maker spaces, and co-living spaces — have been emerging in the knowledge-based post-industrial cities. The paper investigates the emergence of innovation centers through the use of public-private partnerships. The research methodology is based on a multiple case-study approach in which three cases were selected: Barcelona Growth Center in Barcelona (Spain), District Hall in Boston (USA), and Edney Innovation Center in Chattanooga (USA). Innovation centers, which consist of widely diverse creative and knowledge-based activities located within the same building, participate in the urban regeneration of downtown areas through the promotion of entrepreneurship. The paper finds that the local governments, which adopt public-private partnerships to create innovation centers, are entrepreneurial and are aligning their actions and visions with those of the entrepreneurs they are trying to attract. For the entrepreneurial local governments, innovation centers are anchor spaces incorporated in a broader vision of making “innovation districts”.

Keywords: creative city, innovation districts, public-private partnership, knowledge economy, urban regeneration