Cognitive Proximity, Innovation, and Performance of Clusters

The objective of this chapter is to analyze the relationships between cognitive proximity and the economic performance of innovation activities in the context of Moroccan clusters. More specifically, it is a question of demonstrating that cognitive proximity improves performance of innovation, provided that optimal cognitive proximity is maintained and that effective governance be put in place to organize and promote this proximity. To achieve this objective, we have adopted a two-phase methodological approach of post-positivist inspiration. The first phase is dedicated to the exploratory qualitative study, while the second phase is a confirmatory quantitative study. The results obtained have improved our understanding of the cognitive and innovation dynamics of Moroccan clusters and partially confirmed our research hypotheses.