The Innovation Process in Local Development – The Material, Institutional, and Intellectual Infrastructure Shaping and Shaped by Innovation

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to define the material, institutional, and intellectual infrastructure of a region and identify the innovative processes that determine its creation. Our main research hypothesis is that the processes that influence the creation of a region's infrastructure determine a region's competitiveness as well. To verify these premises, we conducted a study among the residents and employees of a municipality. The research employed deductive and inductive methods and a qualitative analysis was performed. Pearson's linear correlation coefficient and factor analysis (inference based on the modal and median values) were used in the study. The research verified the hypothesis that innovative processes influence the creation of a region's infrastructure and that innovative processes in the studied region exhibit low dynamics, which is caused by financial and psychosocial barriers. The important role of social leaders in municipalities was identified as well, above all as regards building civic society and social activity. The added value of the article is threefold: the developed model of infrastructure construction in the material, institutional, and intellectual dimensions of a region; recommendations for the investigated municipality; and a structured questionnaire that, together with the model, can be used for research in municipalities. Keywords: regional development, regional competitiveness, material infrastructure, institutional infrastructure, intellectual infrastructure, entrepreneurship behavior, municipal management, model of infrastructure construction. JEL Classification: R50, O31.

COVID-19: Business Innovation Challenges

“…As was already mentioned, innovation is a key process within the organisation. Without new products, modification of production processes, changes in organisation, marketing, and management, the organisation cannot survive regardless of its functional profile [88]. The present research facilitated a business model for business managers for the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

The Impact of Institutions on Innovation Networks: Empirical Evidence From Poland

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Global Supply Chain Relationship, Local Market Competition, and Suppliers’ Innovation in Developing Economies

“…Scholars conclude that the innovation and diffusion within the cluster are not solely the result of incidental synergies, the "industrial atmosphere, " but are fostered by policy networks of public and private institutions (Amin & Thrift, 1992;Bellandi, 1996;De Propris & Lazzeretti, 2009;Humphrey & Schmitz, 2000;Markusen, 1996). The literature concerned with technological development moved from a focus on the individual firm towards a greater concern with learning-by-interaction, leading to the studies of innovations systems which concerning more with the knowledge system, the importance of knowledge enhancing organizations, political ties and the creation of a region's material and institutional infrastructure (Gorzelany-Dziadkowiec et al, 2019;Jensen et al, 2007;Jurowetzki et al, 2018;Lundvall et al, 2002;Yu et al, 2019). Both sets of literature have been used to analyze local industrial innovation in developing countries.…”

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