Marina Van Geenhuizen (p)

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

In the frame of fastening the energy transition, this paper pictures several risk-taking strategies of young high-tech firms in bringing energy inventions to market, and ways in which urban policy (municipalities) may provide supporting facilities. Derived from a longitudinal study of a 100 firms in northwest Europe, two findings make a contribution to practice. Firstly, a share of almost 40 per cent of university spin-off firms fails in market introduction, and if market introduction reached, 30 per cent is relatively late. This development calls for attention to acceleration and risk-taking concerned. However, risk-taking firm strategies like targeting radical inventions and new markets, tend to hamper early market introduction. Secondly, urban policy is supportive in filling risk-related needs, in particular in large metropolitan cities’ networks. Cities (municipalities) may act as launching customer and provide sites and organization for practical experimentation (e.g. in living labs), alongside steering on cross-faculty application platforms at university that also connect with city functions. Cities’ initiatives, however, tend to be fragmented and miss priority. Partnering in Triple Helix networks with local universities and business may improve the situation, for example by priority setting, better alignment and integration. Urban policy has also a role to play in improving broader conditions, like attraction of related R&D firms to the city/region and attraction and retention of top-class researchers.

Angela Stefania Bergantino, Maria Grazia Cito (p), Miquel-Angel Garcia-Lopez

Marina Van Geenhuizen

This study explores the spatial effects of tourism, specifically the role of Airbnb, on the housing market in the Puglia region of Italy.
The rise of tourism and short-term rentals has allowed Puglia to meet the increase in demand in a flexible and quick way. Moreover, tourism can increase property values, benefitting property owners looking to sell or rent out their properties. The rise of tourism also creates jobs in various sectors, such as hospitality, leading to an increase in demand for housing among employees.
However, the sudden withdrawal of private houses from the housing market to enter the more profitable tourism market drives up rental rates for locals, leading to a pressure on housing supply. The increase in property values also leads to the displacement of lower-income residents who can no longer afford to live in the most touristy areas, resulting in a loss of authenticity and beauty in historic centres. Additionally, the seasonality of tourism leads to a depopulation of the most touristy areas during the low season, discouraging economic activities from remaining open all year round.
The study concludes that policymakers should consider the potential impacts of short-term rental platforms like Airbnb on local housing markets and implement appropriate regulations to ensure that they contribute to the broader social and economic goals of the community.
Overall, this study contributes to the limited research on the effects of Airbnb on the housing market and highlights the need for further investigation in small towns and rural areas.

Marta R. Casanova (p), Miguel Gomez-Antonio

Maria Grazia Cito

This paper analyses location factors for the software industry at the intra-urban level in Madrid. The focus is on knowledge spillovers, differentiating between formal or codified and informal or tacit mechanisms of knowledge transmission. A Gibbs model is estimated to decompose the conditional intensity of the software industry spatial point process into trend and interaction components. Results show that informal mechanisms of knowledge transmission are very central in the location choices of software firms, whereas formal channels are not a relevant location factor in this industry. Informal knowledge flows are also an essential and decisive location factor for the Madrid software industry. Moreover, co-working spaces – a recent urban phenomenon that assists in the creation of informal networks – are useful facilities for informal knowledge diffusion. These have become a key factor in the location choices of software firms in Madrid, and they may be assuming the role of incubators within the city core.

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (p)

Marta R. Casanova

The impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed across territories. Less is known about the potential effects of climate policies aimed at mitigating the negative consequences of climate change, while transitioning economies towards low-carbon standards. This paper presents an analytical framework for identifying and assessing the regional impacts of the green transition. We develop a Regional Green Transition Vulnerability Index, a composite measure of the regional vulnerability of European regions to the socio-economic reconfigurations prompted by the green transition. The index brings to light strong regional variations in vulnerability, with less developed, peri-urban, and rural regions in Southern and Eastern Europe more exposed to the foreseeable changes brought about by the green transition. We also draw attention to the potential rise of pockets of growing ‘green’ discontent, especially if the green transition contributes, as is likely to be the case, to leaving already left-behind regions further behind.