Beyond Local: The Role of National Innovation Networks Within the 4th IR

Within the 4th industrial revolution (IR), firms’ linkages to global knowledge are considered key to improving the innovation capabilities and competitiveness of firms embedded in local industrial districts (IDs). So far, most of the analyses have focused on the complementarity and integration between local and global networks, which have somehow over-shadowed the national dimension of production and innovation processes. With special reference to mechatronics producers, recent trends of Italian firms exploit the critical role of national innovation networks for firms within local systems. In this sense, the national dimension plays a key role in defining the quality and direction of the competitive models of ID firms integrating within global value chains.