In order to make an evaluation of the regional innovation potential, which is decisively influenced by the existing relationships between the different actors of innovative networks within and/or outside the region, a written questionnaire was sent to firms of the manufacturing industry in the autumn of 1997. The focal point of the analysis lay in determining innovative activities within individual firms and cooperative relationships between different firms. After a short discussion about theoretical aspects of innovation-orientated regional development, this paper provides a brief introduction to the main characteristics of the responding firms as well as selected results concerning innovative activities within the firms, innovative cooperation, as well as obstacles to innovation and regional framework conditions. The results indicate that regional proximity matters differently. Innovative relationships with producer services and research institutions are stronger within the region, those with suppliers, customers and competitors more with other regions in Spain and Europe. In short, the surveyed firms in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona tend to cooperate more on a vertical basis and on a less international scale when it comes to innovation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
