This paper proposes an analysis of the manner in which knowledge value chains derive specific but differentiated advantage from distinctive categories of knowledge over geographical space and time. It explores the problematic juxtaposition of tacit and codified knowledge transfer as a simple matter of conversations among binary actors, proposing the concept of "complicit` knowledge as a necessary category capturing the multitude of intermediary agents involved in actual knowledge translation to move from the implicit raw state to the explicit innovation representing new knowledge capable of attracting market demand.