The innovative advantage of US cities

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and synthesis of the determinants of the innovative advantage of cities. The starting point of this analysis is the traditional model of the knowledge production function, which links knowledge inputs to innovative outputs. The role of knowledge spillovers in the context of regional innovation is analysed. How economic activity is spatially organized plays an important role in facilitating knowledge spillovers and provides a basis fir generating the innovative advantage of cities.