How urban social networks help to inspire creativity in American cities

Cities are an important driver of economic growth – in the last twenty years 90 percent of new patent applications have come from cities. But what influences how inventive cities are? In new research which examines more than 300 US cities, Stefano Breschi and Camilla Lenzi find that the most inventive cities are those where people are more able to reach, collaborate, and form groups with others with inventive talents both in their city and across cities.