Regional development platforms and related variety: Exploring the changing practices of food tourism in North Jutland, Denmark

Abstract

There has been growing interest in regional policies that stimulate interactions between different sectors, often based on the concept of 'related variety'. Harmaakorpi (2006) has described the identification and development of new cross-sectoral growth trajectories as building 'regional development platforms'. This article contributes to conceptual debates about cross-sectoral regional development platforms and provides empirical analysis of attempts to create and develop such a platform. From a conceptual perspective we argue that the notion of related variety can help policymakers to identify potential combinatorial platform opportunities, but may overestimate the ability of 'related' actors to collaborate together in innovative ways, because knowledge is embedded in practice and the process of 'combining' knowledge in new activities therefore challenging. The paper illuminates the development of cross-sectoral platforms by examining the creation of new activities from a practice perspective that directs attention to the everyday activities, routines and understandings that constitute the 'doing' of economic development. We explore the development of a cross sectoral platform in the North Jutland region of Denmark, which integrates actors from the food and tourism sectors into a new food-tourism platform. We identify the dominant forms of the practices of producing food, retailing, catering, and promoting tourism, and then consider the ways in which these have changed in response to new cross-sectoral initiatives. The analysis shows that some aspects of practice are easier to change than others, and we conclude that an analytical approach inspired by practice theory can identify the requirements in 4 terms of micro-level change in the practices of actors that is required for an initiative to succeed.

Tourism Diversification and Its Implications for Smart Specialisation

“…Science can also mediate RV by generating inter-sectoral knowledge spillovers, such as agro-science and visitor experience management, which developed the food tourism in North Jutland, Denmark [80]. Therefore, the more that destinations are strategically specialised, the higher the RV will be among tourism sub sectors and lower levels of RV with other regional sectors.…”

Regional development platforms as incubators of business ecosystems. Case study: The Lahti urban region, Finland

“…A thematic regional innovation platform was built on cross‐cutting competencies and infrastructure, internationally competitive supporting industries, regional test markets providing feedback, and the practices of the regional innovation system. Thus, the framework they use was in line with the notion by James and Halkier (2016, p. 833) that, “regional development policies based on related variety therefore require analysis of the complementarities between existing regional resources and the degree of “proximity” between current activities”.…”

“…When using this concept to describe the business and innovation environment, one must also acknowledge the organisational relatedness. A proper concept here is related variety, which, according to James and Halkier (2016), refers to the presence of different industries between which there is a sufficient difference for novel recombination of knowledge but not to such an extent that communication and collaboration between the relevant actors is impossible (originally Frenken, Oort, & Verburg, 2007). Related variety is also connected to earlier literature of regional innovation systems.…”

“…The Lahti urban region has been a laboratory for platform‐based innovation policy for more than 10 years, and it has been characterised as a region of practice‐based innovation. James and Halkier (2016) describe the Lahti regional development being the best‐documented platform policy example so far (documented in, e.g., in Aula & Harmaakorpi, 2008; Harmaakorpi, 2006; Harmaakorpi, Melkas, & Uotila, 2017; Harmaakorpi et al, 2011; Pekkarinen & Harmaakorpi, 2006; Uotila, Melkas, & Harmaakorpi, 2005).…”

“…The knowledge‐based constructed advantage needs development actions in different areas: economy (e.g., inter‐firm interactions and smart infrastructures), governance (e.g., vision‐led leadership and global positioning on local assets), knowledge infrastructure (e.g., universities and intermediary agencies), and community and culture (e.g., sustainability and social tolerance (Cooke, 2007). Core concepts in the assessment of a regional constructed advantage are related variety and regional development platforms (e.g., Frenken, Oort, Verburg, & Boschma, 2004; Harmaakorpi, Tura, & Melkas, 2011; James & Halkier, 2016). Related variety refers to knowledge spillovers occurring between different sectors in a region, but not in any sectors.…”