Nowadays the value added by human resources and knowledge are the drivers of economic growth, economic development and capacity to prosper stems increasingly from the growing complexity of products and services. Accordingly, the economic systems and communities where the harmony of the conditions in the social, economic and physical environment enables the continuous and rapid flow of learning and new information and knowledge transfer, and which foster personal interaction among individuals are the ones able to develop continuously. Harmonizing these conditions for connection in space and time is a decisive factor in creating a robust development path for a community. For this reason, geographical space remains an essential element within knowledge-intensive and innovation-based activities and its significance has barely declined in the wake of technological innovation.

The drivers of economic growth, i.e. talent, innovation, creativity, are not distributed evenly in the world, they are concentrated in space. In the past, they were clustered in cities and nation states, today they gather around super-regions and megaregions.

18% of the global population, 66% of global GDP and 86% of global innovation is concentrated in the 40 largest integrated regions of the world economy.

The global economy is divided into four parts in space: creative regions, regions utilizing imported innovation well, the hopeless megacities of the developing world and agricultural areas.

We are headed toward a digital world where only two types of work will exist: highly paid creative and low-wage traditional service jobs.