Title: Knowledge workers, cultural diversity and innovation: evidence from London

Authors: Neil Lee, Max Nathan

Addresses: Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Houghton St., London, WC2A 2AE, UK. ' Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Houghton St., London, WC2A 2AE, UK

Abstract: London is one of the world|s major cities and one of its most culturally diverse. A number of studies link diverse workforces and populations to levels of urban innovation, especially in global cities. While widely explored as a social phenomenon, there has been little work on the importance of London|s diversity for the city|s businesses. This paper uses the 2007 London Annual Business Survey to investigate, exploiting the survey|s unique coverage of both workforce composition and innovation outcomes. From a cross-section of over 2300 firms, we find significant positive relationships between workforce and ownership diversity, and product and process innovation. These provide some support for claims that London|s cultural diversity is a source of economic strength.

Keywords: cultural diversity; migration; ethnicity; cities; firms; innovation; knowledge economy; economics; urban policy; economic development; knowledge workers; knowledge-based development; London; UK; United Kingdom; workforce composition; workforce diversity; product innovation; ownership diversity; process innovation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKBD.2010.032586

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2010 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.53 - 78

Published online: 08 Apr 2010 *

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