Needs for knowledge and the sourcing of it in the innovation process of companies in the agri-food sector of Northern Jutland

The project focused on the needs for knowledge in the innovation process of companies in the agri-food sector in Northern Jutland, and also on the sourcing of this knowledge. A limited number of innovation processes within selected companies were studied by quantitative and especially qualitative methods in order to get an understanding of how the process develops, which external relations are involved, what are their contributions to the innovation process and what constitutes the ‘learning environment' around the interaction, which allows learning to take place. The analysis was based on innovation theory and theories of clusters (i.e. an understanding of the importance of user-producer relations and discussions of 'related variety').   

Based on the studies the project described different uses of knowledge from regional, national and international knowledge providers, and discussed how the regional set-up of knowledge providers and ‘learning environment' fit into the needs of different types of companies.

Project under Center for Regional Development, Aalborg University