Book excerpt: This book presents the findings of the extensive research progrannne funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) and entitled 'Technological Change and Regional Development in Europe'. The goal of this programme was to carry out research by means of empirical surveys into the relationship between technological change and regional development. Over a period of six years, a total of 50 research projects have been undertaken in three phases, each lasting two years. This research programme has succeeded in actively involving leading German regional scientists from many universities as well as non-university research institutions. In addition, numerous research projects were carried out in close co-operation with internationally renowned partners. We should like to express our gratitude for the support provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Without their financial backing of the research programme, it would not have been possible to undertake such an ambitious project. Thanks also go to the contributors of this volume for their willingness to participate in our joint project. We wish in addition to acknowledge the contribution of Prof. Dr. Philip Cooke whose refereeing of the chapters has enhanced the quality of the work presented here. Finally, our thanks go to Angela Spence for her expert editorial assistance, linguistic editing and the preparation of the Index, and also Franco Vaio for taking care of the technical aspects and production of the final copy. Their combined efforts have been crucial for successfully bringing together contributions from so many different authors in a single volume.