"Two opposing forces reshaped knowledge networks in 'rust belt' communities over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. On the one hand, large industrial companies which for generations had stood at these places' economic, social and intellectual cores attempted to reinvigorate their own innovation processes by reaching out beyond the parochial boundaries of locales in which they resided to tap into what was seen as a richer set of conversations taking place in Europe, Asia and in the coastal regions of the U.S."