Page - (000294) - in Knowledge and Networks

291© The Author(s) 2017 J. Glückler et al. (eds.), Knowledge and Networks, Knowledge and Space 11, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-45023-0_14 Chapter 14 Are Gatekeepers Important for the Renewal of the Local Knowledge Base? Evidence from U. S. Cities Stefano Breschi and Camilla Lenzi The Role of Gatekeepers for Knowledge Renewal: Review of the Literature and Research Questions Recent research on the role of social networks for the creation and the spatial diffu- sion of scientific and technological knowledge has increasingly emphasized the importance of connecting and combining spatially dispersed sources of knowledge (Boschma & Frenken, 2010). Openness to global sources of knowledge provides some shelter from the risk of over-embeddedness, of lock-in to obsolete sets of technologies, of decrease in the variety of technological approaches and solutions, and of redundancy of localized knowledge exchanges by favoring a continuous expansion, rejuvenation, and update of the existing knowledge base (Bathelt, Malmberg, & Maskell, 2004; Uzzi, 1996). In this regard, recent research has concentrated on the role played by specific actors in local networks, the so-called gatekeepers, by investigating their character- istics, attributes, and performances. The literature on industrial clusters has been particularly successful in emphasizing the crucial interfacing functions gatekeepers perform between the local and the external knowledge systems, such as screening external sources, accessing them, and conveying new knowledge to local actors (Giuliani & Bell, 2005; Graf, 2011). S. Breschi (*) Department of Management and Technology, Università L. Bocconi, Via Sarfatti 25, 20136 Milan, Italy e-mail: stefano.breschi@unibocconi.it C. Lenzi Building Environment Science & Technology, Politecnico di Milano, Via Bonardi 3, 20133 Milan, Italy e-mail: Camilla.lenzi@polimi.it