Regional Intellectual Capital Formation: A Computational Approach

Abstract

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to test empirically the potential of Intellectual Capital (IC) as a driver of formation of cross border coalitions in European Union (EU) regions. The question is important given that, at present, economic and social cohesion is a major factor of stability in the EU. We use a computational model based on different similarity matrices, for the cross‑border cases of Portugal and Spain and for Hungary and Romania, respectively. We find that the results differ with the form of attraction we suppose between the regions, namely driven by diversity or conservative. At least the potential for attraction between such regions, based in IC, may be a useful approach for modeling. We believe that our model should be replicated in other EU regions, and thereby increased in depth. However, we regard our results as a promising step towards understanding some important organizing principles for the multi‑regional economics of the 21st century.