About 30 talented researchers from 11 countries gathered in Bologna in January 2009 to start reflecting on the impact of globalisation and the rapid growth of selected emerging economies in the world on the competitiveness and strategies of European Union firms, industries and regions.
Economists, economic geographers, political scientists, education specialists, management experts, and sociologists discussed the project work plan and laid the basis for 3 years of intense investigation into the evolution of Global Production Networks (GPNs) into Global Innovation Networks (GINs) and the impact that this new process of global capitalism has on knowledge intensive activities in the EU.