Peter Nijkamp is Professor in Regional and Urban Economics and in Economic Geography at the VU University, Amsterdam. His main research interests cover quantitative plan evaluation, regional and urban modelling, multicriteria analysis, transport systems analysis, mathematical systems modelling, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, environmental and resource management, and sustainable development. In the past years he has focussed his research in particular on new quantitative methods for policy analysis, as well as on spatial-behavioural analysis of economic agents. He has a broad expertise in the area of public policy, services planning, infrastructure management and environmental protection. In all these fields he has published many books and numerous articles.
In 1996, he was awarded the most prestigious scientific prize in the Netherlands, the Spinoza award.

A Overviews.- 1 An Interpretative Survey of Innovative Behaviourand Diffusion.- 2 Spatial Dispersion of Technological Innovation: A Review.- 3 Technological Innovation and Diffusion Models: A Review.- Modelling Innovation Diffusion.- B Theories and Models.- 5 Firms R&D Investments, Innovation and Market Shares.- 6 Innovative Behaviour and Complexity in Organized Systems.- 7 Technological Innovation, Transport and Location: A Comparative Examination of Four Analytical Models.- 8 Telematics, Location and Interaction Flows: The Telemaco Model.- 9 Innovation and Spatial Agglomeration.- 10 Structural Change in a Metropolitan Economy: The Chicago Region 1975-2011.- 11 Endogenous Technological Change, Long Run Growth and Spatial Interdependence: A Survey.- 12 Innovation and Strategy in Space: Towards a New Location Theory of the Firm.- C Empirical Studies and Policies.- 13 Investment Policy and Innovation Management: An Exploratory Analysis.- 14 Diffusion and Acceptance of New Products and Processes by Individual Firms.- 15 Innovative Capacity, Infrastructure and Regional Inversion: Is there a Long-Term Dynamic?.- 16 Telecommunications Network Externalities and Regional Development: Empirical Evidence.- 17 Strategic Adoption of Advanced Communication Systems: Some Empirical Evidence from the Finnish Metal Industry.- 18 Transport Behaviour and Diffusion of Telematics: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Applications.- 19 Towards a New Theory on Technological Innovations and Network Management: The Introduction of Environmental Technology in the Transport Sector.- 20 Innovative Behaviour, R&D Development Activities and Technology Policies in Countries in Transition: The Case of Central Europe.- Contributors.

In the past decade there has been growing recognition that economic development is not mainly exogenously determined but, to a large extent, is a transformation process induced and governed by economic actors who respond to competitive, institutional and political challenge. This 'challenge and response' model is increasingly accepted as a valid analytical framework in modem growth theory and also explains the popularity of endogenous growth approaches to technological innovation issues. However, a major and as yet largely under-researched topic is the question of the diffusion and adoption of new technological changes in the context of space-time dynamics. This diffusion and adoption pattern has obviously clear spatial and temporal variations connected with behavioural responses which may vary over time and different locations. This means that a closer analysis of spatio-temporal opportunities and impediments is necessary in order to fully map the complex interactions of technology and economy in space and time. This volume sets out to bring together a collection of original contributions commissioned by the editors to highlight the spatio-temporal patterns and backgrounds of the diffusion and adoption of new technologies. Some are in the nature of a survey, others.have a modelling background and again others are case studies. The contributions originate from different countries and different disciplines. This book is complementary to a previously published volume on technological innovation, Technological Change, Economic Development and Space, edited by C.S. Bertuglia, M.M. Fischer and G. Preto, and also published by Springer-Verlag (1995).