La ricerca geografica sull’innovazione e l’informazione: nuovi approcci, ambiti di studio e strumenti di analisi

The growing relevance of scientific research, technological progress and of the knowledge economy, as well as the increasingly pervasive use of the Internet, are producing deep changes not only in the economic, social and cultural contexts, but also in daily practices and in the way people live the spaces, the relational, emotional and narrative spheres that characterize individual life. Moreover, territories are trying to react and to reshape themselves by enhancing innovative activities, and also critically responding to these changes. Geography, like other disciplines, is expected to offer new perspectives and methodologies to interpret the complex relationship between innovation and territory, whose material and immaterial evidences and spatial and transcalar interconnections are still difficult to be identified and interpreted. This opening paper aims to highlight the main and emerging issues of this field of research, the ongoing projects – such as those presented in the various articles – and the future challenges which researchers of this group and other disciplines are invited to undertake.