Abstract
Competitiveness derives from the creation of the locally differentiated capabilities needed to sustain growth in an internationally competitive selection environment. Such capabilities are created through innovation, and because capabilities are varied and differentiated, and since the creative learning processes for generating capabilities are open-ended and generally allow for multiple potential avenues to success, a range of different actors may improve their competitiveness together. According to this article, the efforts to promote competitiveness through innovation can rarely be understood in isolation from what others are achieving at the same time. This applies whether one is speaking of countries, of national groups of firms in an industry, of subnational regions, or of individual companies. Indeed, it is worth emphasizing that the degree of interaction between innovators in search of competitiveness has tended to rise substantially historically, and has attained new heights in recent years.