Technological Cognition and Co-adaptation in Mesoeconomic Plexuses

This paper proposes a different approach to the analysis of innovation networks and knowledge clusters, whose epistemological foundations lay on the evolutionary paradigm and the emerging science of complexity. The paper introduces the concept of 'mesoeconomic plexus', which refers to the minimum irreducible network of microeconomic agents connected through a relatively stable external division of labour; this formation is considered as the fundamental operational unit of the mesoeconomic level and can be used as an analytical tool for the complex process of technological cognition. The fundamental hypotheses we formulate here is that mesoeconomic plexuses exhibit the characteristics of Complex Adaptive Systems and that cognition and innovation are 'emergent' properties of these systems; this permits the study of innovation networks and knowledge clusters from a purely systemic point of view, on the basis of the theory of Complex Adaptive Systems. In order to substantiate these hypotheses we examine the process of knowledge creation and integration in mesoeconomic systems and how this affects and is affected by their industrial organisation; additionally, we examine the relationship of the process of cognition with complexity, evolution and co-adaptation, and we draw conclusions with regard to the emergence of technological cognition in mesoeconomic plexuses.JRC.DG.J.3-Knowledge for Growt