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Innovation—the social process of developing, adapting, and adopting new technologies and products into the economy and society—is being driven by increasingly intensive use of knowledge. Although knowledge is often considered inherently nonrival and nonexcludable, increasing complexity has combined with new private property rights mechanisms to erect barriers to use. One approach to overcoming the challenge of accessing and using knowledge has been for firms and other actors to cluster geographically in a few locations around the world, in order to capture scale and scope economies. This paper offers a theoretical explanation for this agglomeration, examines the extent of clustering in the agricultural biotechnology industry, and investigates one specific cluster—in Saskatoon, Canada—that has sustained success in generating successive innovation. Preliminary results indicate that clusters appear to be prevalent in areas where knowledge is diffuse, complicated, and actively protected. Finally, our results also suggest that regional knowledge management is enhanced through an optimal number of actors operating within the parameters of seven defined cluster-based functions: three primary (science, technology and collective) and four mixed or hybrid activities.

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How fast and widespread the global agriculture and food sectors can develop, adapt and adopt new technologies, products, production systems and institutional arrangements will probably have the single largest impact on global prosperity and security in the next generation. This review concludes that the theory and evidence to support this policy goal is incomplete.Innovation is the buzz concept of the twenty-first century. It is generally agreed that innovation must accelerate and spread more widely in the global agri-food system. Nevertheless, action and impacts will most often be felt at the local food system level. A challenge is that both the theory and evidence in support of good public policy is mixed [1].