Non-technological innovation and multi-local territorial knowledge dynamics in the Swiss watch industry

Over the last few decades, territorial approaches have generally tried to explain how regions have specialised their production systems around specific path dependencies and technological innovation; how their specialisation enabled them to compete locally in the global market. Some socio-economic changes and recent theories have addressed new theoretical questions regarding new dynamics of knowledge, new territorial relations and new types of innovation. The case of the Swiss watch industry is used here to illustrate different aspects of this new approach. We propose to look at the present Swiss watch industry as a complex system of production-consummation of authenticity where non-technological innovations have become critical. We also explain the importance of combinatorial knowledge dynamics as well as diffusion and legitimisation processes. Finally, we propose analysing the region within complex multi-local knowledge dynamics, rather than considering it as a specialised local system in a global market.