Abstract

This work analyzes a type of knowledge flow based on of human capital (represented by the couple inventor/owner of the patent) necessary to produce innovation in a territory. From a methodological point of view, we propose the ego-network tool to analyze the role of a specific node in the context of local and global knowledge flows. The methodology is applied to the case of the province of Vicenza, and highlights how the knowledge produced there has slowly but progressively internationalized: the owners of Vicenza patents resort to mostly Italian inventors even if, in recent years, collaborations have started with German and French inventors.