knowledge spillover

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the process by which ideas, skills, and technical knowledge spread from the individuals or organisations that generate them to others in the same geographic area without full compensation being paid for the transfer; knowledge spillovers are a form of positive externality and a central mechanism by which cities generate economic growth beyond what individual firms could achieve in isolation; they operate through casual conversation, employee mobility, imitation, and observation, and are strongest when knowledge is tacit — embodied in people's practices and judgments rather than codified in documents; Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and the City of London are classic examples of economic clusters whose extraordinary productivity reflects the density of knowledge spillovers among co-located firms and workers