Social Processes in Network Formation and the Impact of Public Funding – A Spatial Case Study

Our study evaluates the public funded programme “Innovationsforen” supporting young innovation networks in the Neue Länder at their very beginning. We obtain insights in early network formation processes influenced by public funding and consulting and study the relationship between network characteristics before and after the funding. Through this the study provides insights in the short and long-term effects of early public funding in innovation networks with a focus on spatial and social aspects underlying the development of collaborative network structures. Using interviews and document analysis techniques in combination with multivariate analysis, we got detailed insights in 15 networks. Our results show that supporting personal meeting and workshops has a very positive influence on later network success in terms of self-feeding structures and common project work because it creates an early common identity. But these processes are quite sensible to distance. Related to this we find that all networks became regionally focused over time.