Regional Innovation Complexes

Abstract

Reduced growth rates and accelerated structural change of the world economy since the 1970s have led to a shift in emphasis from growth‐oriented to innovation‐oriented regional policy in many countries. A question of increasing relevance for regional analysis and regional policy in this connection is the identification of the factors (locational or other) which determine the spatial distribution of innovations for regional development. After reviewing some previous analyses of the location factors relevant for the emergence of high technology industries, this paper proposes the hypothesis that the ambiguous and often contradictory results of these earlier studies are because most of them test unicausal, linear relationships and neglect the synergetic interaction between various determinants of innovation. Three empirical case studies of “regional innovation complexes” in peripheral areas, consisting mainly of synergetic regional interaction systems, are presented. They illustrate three different types of social organization: a cooperative type, a private‐sector type, and a mixed, “third‐sector” type. These case studies show that innovation can emerge not only in core but also in peripheral areas if the basic elements of synergetic regional interaction networks exist.

Locational conditions, cooperation, and innovativeness: evidence from research and company spin-offs

“…One thing that is common across the spin-off literature, regardless of differences in data and methodologies, is that access to knowledge is assumed to be a very important locational determinant for firms in knowledge-intensive sectors (see, e.g., Beise and Stahl 1999, Feldman 1999, Rees and Stafford 1986, Stöhr 1986). The knowledge can be obtained from various sources, including skilled labor, research institutions, collaboration, and networking.…”

Introduction: the role of proximity relations in regional and territorial development processes

“…Generally small in size (sub-regional) the zones in question pertain to the territorial dimension and are characterised by different levels of development, due precisely to the characteristics of these systems and their ability to mobilise and to bring local resources to fruition. There is here the idea of bottom-to-top development -dear to authors such as Stöhr (1986) -as well as a desire to typologise the forms of development (Italian-style districts, state-based systems, systems with a core of large firms or based on innovation, etc.) (Markusen, 1996), but little analysis of the actual processes of development and of their dynamic.…”

Determinants of Established Entrepreneurs’ Innovative Activity in Northern and Western Europe

“…Thus, the functioning of these joint constituencies of the system of which the outcome is represented by innovation is greatly dependent on economy-specific formal (e.g., regulatory frameworks) and informal (e.g., rules, conventions, and norms) institutions [2,8,25]. As a result, innovation activities are not equally distributed in space, i.e., [2,[26][27][28][29], and we are faced with different development levels of regional innovation systems, i.e., [1,8,[30][31][32][33].…”