Coworking and knowledge spillovers: When does being in close proximity help?

The concept of  coworking isn’t really an original thought. Humans have a gregarious nature,
gathering around the dinner table to break the bread and share meals. The same can be said
about coworking. People like to work around others, particularly in an environment where the
risk of office politics is much lower. A shift in the economic production paradigm from an
industrial to a knowledge society has also contributed to the popularization of shared office
space that can be rented by the hour, the week or the month.

Coworking has gained more traction in recent years (some argue that Brad Neuberg created the
first shared office space in San Francisco), particularly with increasing telecommuting options
and the rise of a whole new breed of entrepreneurs. While sharing office space with other
impresarios can be seen as one of the world’s greatest ideas, the pure geographical proximity
does not guarantee that cross-pollination and knowledge-sharing will occur.

Research in the field of economic geography (by the way, economic geography was the main
theoretical lens of my doctoral dissertation) has found that for knowledge spillovers to occur,
geographical proximity is a necessary but not sufficient condition. In the case of coworking
spaces, having like-minded entrepreneurs can have a very positive impact in the general morale
of each individual, some cross-pollination and sharing of ideas. However, I believe that a
necessary condition for coworking spaces to succeed in fostering knowledge spillovers is to
offer a foundational framework (in the form of formal or informal rules or guidelines).

Another great way to encourage the sharing of ideas in a coworking space is to organize
monthly/bi-monthly gatherings where like-minded individuals can mingle and exchange
thoughts on potential business ideas. It’s important to realize that just by “being there” (e.g.
sitting in close proximity) does not guarantee that we will learn from each other. We need to
take a first step.

Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega is a Vancouver-based researcher, educator and  consultant in the environmental
public policy field. He conducts research in water governance, urban sustainability,
comparative environmental policy and economic geography. Dr. Pacheco-Vega’s  consulting studio has a
home at The Network Hub.