Laurent Frideres BA, MA, MPhil, PhD

Affiliated Lecturer and Bye-Fellow of Girton

Economic geographer with research interests in regional economic development, industrial clusters and trans-national knowledge networks

Biography

Throughout his academic and professional career, Laurent has developed interests in regional development, GIS, information management and networking fora. Following his undergraduate studies in geography at Cambridge, Laurent was a Chevening Scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies where he undertook research on the development of China's regional economies. He then spent two years in Singapore with the Asia-Europe Foundation, an intergovernmental organisation promoting academic, business, civil society and political linkages between Asia and Europe. His work focused on building professional networks between 25 countries and he organised conferences and events throughout Asia and Europe.

Laurent returned to Cambridge for an MPhil in order to gain a more advanced understanding of GIS and remote sensing techniques and applications. He gained practical experience working as a GIS Officer for the United Nations Humanitarian Information Centre during the tsunami relief operation in Indonesia in 2005. Laurent's PhD research investigated differences in the performance of firms located inside and outside clusters.

Career

2010-present: Lecturer in Economic Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
2010-present: Bye-Fellow in Geography, Girton College, Cambridge
2007-2010: Director, Rosetta Translation, London
2006: Visiting Researcher, Centre for Population, Poverty and Public Policy Studies, Luxembourg
2005: GIS Officer, Humanitarian Information Centre for Sumatra, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
2001-2003: Project Executive, Asia-Europe Foundation, Singapore

Education

PhD in Economic Geography, University of Cambridge
MPhil in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing, University of Cambridge
MA in Pacific Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
BA in Geography, University of Cambridge

Research

Laurent's research evaluates how spatial industrial clustering and more specifically the location and proximity of firms in industrial clusters influence the competitive advantage of firms. He investigates how spatial and relational proximity influence the innovative and economic performance of firms and to what extent agglomeration economies and knowledge networks contribute to the competitive advantage of firms.

His PhD research focused on the information technology sector in the so-called 'Grande Région', a trans-national region covering the regions of Wallonia in Belgium, Lorraine in France, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. Laurent's PhD research was funded by the Ministry of Culture, Higher Education and Research, Luxembourg and the National Research Fund., Luxembourg (BFR04/066).

Publications

Frideres, L., 2009, 'Räumliche Konzentration der Softwarebranche' in Bousch, P. et al., Der Luxemburg Atlas, Hermann‐Josef Emons Verlag, Köln.