Innovation in a creative production system: the case of design

This article addresses the relatively neglected issue of variations in the degree of innovation and creativity within cultural production systems, paying particular attention to the design consultancy industry. It argues that design is a business-facing type of creative industry that differs in important ways from other types of cultural industries. It examines some of the implications of this argument for how we should understand innovation and its geography in the industry. It is argued that previous studies have paid too much attention to place-based creative inspiration, thereby downplaying the business ecosystems and firm architectures that drive innovation. It is argued that design innovation requires the combination of a wide range of different types of knowledge. Design emerges from interactions between different sites that synthesize and recombine knowledge so as to produce emergent effects and new designs. The article examines two of the key sites: the market or agency-client link and the design firm itself. It argues that relations with clients, and firm routines and competences, are much more important to design innovation than inter-firm co-operation or the local cultural environment. In conclusion it argues that economic geographers should be wary about using approaches to innovation derived from either cultural or manufacturing industries to explain the local ecology of design, but should devote more research to examining the distinctive logics of innovation in creative, knowledge intensive business service industries.