Intellectual Capital and Regions: Origins, Theoretical Foundations, Decision-makers Implications

Researchers are increasingly investigating the strategic management of knowledge assets and Intellectual Capital (IC) for a company's performance improvement. We look instead at the role and the relevance of IC at the regional level. Sharing a knowledge-based approach to IC and through an intensive and structured literature review, this paper examines the concept of IC in the local systems and regional studies research streams and provides an analysis of the origins and the theoretical foundations of IC and its related components. A clear understanding of the concept is useful both to develop a theory about IC at the regional level and to help regional decision-makers to activate and drive regional development dynamics based on the exploitation of their regions' knowledge assets.