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Constructing Regional Advantage and Smart Specialisation: Comparison of Two European Policy Concepts
Abstract
This paper discusses two influential policy concepts at the European level that aim to promote economic diversification of regions, that is the Constructing Regional Advantage concept (CRA) and the Smart Specialisation concept (SS). Both policy frameworks identify and prioritise ‘promising’ targets for policy intervention, but they do so differently. The SS concept organizes this identification process through entrepreneurial discovery in which entrepreneurs select the domains of future specialisation. The CRA concept focuses on identifying related variety and bottlenecks that prevent related industries in regions to connect and interact. The paper argues that the two policy concepts can provide useful inputs to develop a smart and comprehensive policy design that focuses on true economic renewal in regions.
... The first one concerns the research on a tourist enterprise. The second direction, represented in the literature to a much lesser extent, concerns the environment of the enterprise, i.e., the environment of their activity [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. ...
... The model of the innovative environment emphasizes the interactions between economic entities, which are based on the search for common solutions and mutual learning. Innovative environment can be seen in both geographical and economic terms, according to Boschm [7]. It can be a barrier (e.g., by isolating the region: mountain areas, islands, areas of natural value) or stimulate innovative processes. ...
... The research conducted on Polish enterprises in tourist destinations of various sizes allows for the conclusion that the environment in the geographical and economic sense is a barrier to the implementation of innovations. These results are consistent with those of Boschm [7]. These entities may not react to market changes and may not undertake external cooperation [7]. ...
The objective of this work was to evaluate the innovation processes in tourist destinations using the Quadruple Helix model and to develop guidelines for building innovation management strategies in the tourism sector for destination management organizations (DMO). The article identifies the drivers and barriers to innovation processes reported by entrepreneurs in the tourism industry in Poland. The analysis was carried out in relation to 218 enterprises of the tourism industry operating in destinations in large cities as well as in destinations in small towns and rural areas. The research was carried out using a diagnostic survey with elements of a telephone interview. The research confirmed the usefulness of the Quadruple Helix model for the assessment of innovation processes in tourist destinations. A relationship was observed between the level of development of innovation processes, the size of the tourist destination and the level of competitiveness of the tourist market in the destination. The study showed a significant variation in the spatial and geographical system, as well as between individual factors responsible for the innovation processes in a tourist destination. The influence of the market, including consumers, is a strong point of these processes. The barriers include poorly developed structures of cooperation between enterprises, DMO, scientific and research institutions, and civil society, as well as their participation in the innovation processes of tourist destinations. Final conclusions: it should be stated that the innovative processes in Polish tourist destinations are underdeveloped. They do not affect the development of tourism markets and the competitiveness of destinations.
... The issue of regional development in Greece has posed a consistent obstacle due to economic imbalances, unequal allocation of resources, and differing degrees of infrastructural development. To address these issues, European strategies such as Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) and the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) have played crucial roles [22]. The Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) is an iterative process that involves stakeholders from various sectors to identify and exploit new opportunities for innovation and growth. ...
... Smart specialization is vital for sustainable growth, offering opportunities in both domestic and global markets. It also contributes to inclusive growth among regions, strengthens territorial cohesion, and manages structural changes, creating jobs and fostering social innovation [22]. ...
The significance of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) as a strategic tool for enhancing a region’s competitiveness has been increasingly recognized. This paper presents a model of RIS that was developed using the system dynamics (SD) methodology. The goal of this model is to amalgamate the systemic approach with computer modeling and simulation disciplines into a comprehensive dynamic framework for analyzing RIS. Within this framework, the paper explores the impact of smart technologies on regional development through the RIS. Specifically, the SD model serves as an ‘experimental tool’ for conducting extensive what-if scenario analyses concerning smart technologies. The efficacy of these technologies is examined in terms of their dynamic influence on regional development, with insights derived from simulation outcomes. Data from two Greek regions provides a strategic analysis over a designated time horizon.
... In the 2000s, the idea of industry relationship was combined with the empirical observation made by economic geographers that knowledge spillovers were often geographically limited. There is evidence that the variety of industries or technologies present in one region can positively affect knowledge and learning processes because local firms in different (but related) activities can profit more from mutual spillovers than from local firms in unrelated industries (Almeida and Kogut, 1999;Boschma andFrenken, 2009, 2011;Gilsing et al., 2007;Menzel, 2008;Balland et al., 2018;Diodato et al., 2018;Jara-Figueroa et al., 2018;Farinha et al., 2019). ...
... The underlying assumption is that relationships and economic complexity are key components of related diversification. We consider this to be a process through which regions' economic structures are improved based on their existing capabilities (Boschma, 2014). ...
This paper contributes to the literature on economic relatedness and diversification in Brazil. It uses firm-level, occupational data to estimate the relationship between regions’ diversification, the degree of relatedness, and economic complexity indexes. Given that the current literature often focuses on a single variable, a new relatedness measure is introduced. It includes three new relatedness dimensions. The co-location captures the degree of similarity of firms’ occupations; co-occupation, considers the geographical proximity of different sectors; and co-company, evaluates if firms operate in more than one sector. Analyzing the evolution of 558 microregions from 2006 to 2016, the study finds that new industries are more likely to enter when technologically related to existing ones, while industries lacking relatedness are prone to exit. The results highlight diversification as a significant path-dependent process. They also underscore the challenges of attracting and retaining new industries, especially those technologically distant or more complex, emphasizing the importance of relatedness in regional economic cohesion.
... However, critics argue that this type of S3 overemphasizes the power of related diversification and is conservative and less altered [38], which could remove diversification opportunities and make regions less resilient over time [9,39,40]. Therefore, some scholars seek a type of S3 that focuses on unrelated diversification [38,40,41]. ...
... However, critics argue that this type of S3 overemphasizes the power of related diversification and is conservative and less altered [38], which could remove diversification opportunities and make regions less resilient over time [9,39,40]. Therefore, some scholars seek a type of S3 that focuses on unrelated diversification [38,40,41]. This type of S3 aims to realize a potential brand-new path [41]. ...
In response to Boschma’s concern that the implications of relatedness- and unrelatedness-based diversification strategies lack empirical evidence at disaggregated levels and in the context of the Global South, this study generates a unique dataset at the city level and explores how these smart specialization strategies (S3) may explain digital industry innovations within a specific regional innovation system, i.e., the Yangtze River Delta, China. The findings reveal that both relatedness density and knowledge complexity play a positive role in explaining digital industry innovations. However, the relationship between relatedness and knowledge complexity and its interactive effects on innovation performance are less straightforward. In our study, we found that efficient cooperation between relatedness and complexity can only be achieved if the level of government intervention is moderate. Therefore, the discussion of S3 focuses on more than the dichotomous argument between relatedness and unrelatedness. Many socio-economic factors also impact the effectiveness of these theoretical components within different innovation systems, which are largely overlooked by present studies.
... Primarily formulated by Foray in 2015, smart specialization comprises two distinct connotations: the conceptual and the policy strategy one (Hassink and Gong, 2019) and "represents an explicit, place-based and place-sensitive approach, emphasizing prioritization and selectively through non-neutral, vertical policies aiming at diversified specialization" (Hassink and Gong, 2019, pp. 2058-2059, Boschma, 2014. ...
... Despite the fascinating soaring academic interest in the smart specialization concept which has many positive characteristics (Buyukyazici, 2023 Boschma, 2014) there is also the reverse side that focuses on seeing things through a critical lens. In this respect, Hassink and Gong (2019, p. 2049) point out, among other things, that "smart specialization is a confusing concept, as what it really means is diversification", is not "a brand-new policy instrument", "structurally weak regions might be less likely to benefit from smart specialization" and "more rigorous measurements of smart specialization are still needed". ...
Seeking Economic Balance: Spatial Analysis of the Interaction Between Smart Specialisation and Diversification in Romanian Mountain Areas. This research article delves into the intricate relationship between smart specialisation and economic diversification within the unique context of Romanian mountain regions. As regions characterized by their geographical isolation and distinctive socioeconomic challenges, mountain areas in Romania stand as vital territories where balanced economic development is crucial. In this study, we employ a comprehensive spatial analysis to explore how the European Union's concept of "smart specialisation" and the imperative for diversification intersect within these mountainous areas. The investigation combines both qualitative and quantitative methods, utilizing spatial data and GIS techniques. Findings reveal the intricate interplay between smart specialisation and diversification efforts, highlighting the necessity for adaptable policies that respond to the unique challenges and opportunities present in Romanian mountain areas. The study also offers recommendations for policymakers, emphasizing the importance of custom-tailored approaches that consider the geographic, social, and economic idiosyncrasies of these regions. Ultimately, 38 this research article contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between regional development strategies and the specific needs of mountainous territories. By shedding light on the practical implications of smart specialisation and diversification in Romanian mountain areas, it offers valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working towards sustainable and balanced economic growth in similar regions worldwide.
... The premises of the policy rely on the ex-ante identification of the economic strengths and potential of the region, and on the expansion of the growth opportunity set in the direction of new competitive advantage in high-value activities (Boschma, 2014;Deegan, Broekel, and Fitjar, 2021). The regions' potential must be translated into priorities, i.e. into choices about the economic sectors in which each region should invest. ...
... This evidence tends to confirm that a region is more likely to acquire new specialisations in new technological fields if these are closer to the pre-existent knowledge bases (Kogler, Rigby, and Tucker, 2013;Rigby, 2015;Balland et al., 2019). 1 The notion of related variety has acquired over time more relevance in the justification of Smart Specialisation policy, even though a strong connection with the innovation systems literature emerged only later (McCann and Ortega-Argilés, 2011;McCann and Ortega-Argilés, 2015). Once this link was made, scholars often conceptualised Smart Specialisation borrowing from the literature on the construction of regional comparative advantages (Boschma, 2014), and on the role of related diversification (Asheim, Grillitsch, and Trippl, 2017;Santoalha, 2019). ...
In this paper we explore the impact of place-based innovation policy in Europe. We focus on the effects of Smart Specialisation strategies on the labour productivity of regional economies. We design an analytical framework that takes into account the entrepreneurial discovery process through which the policy is implemented, and connect the technological relatedness of regions with their specialisation choices. We use an IV estimation approach capable of handling endogeneity problems, and apply it to an extensive dataset of 102 NUTS2 regions extracted from the European Commission Smart Specialisation Portal. The results show that Smart Specialisation strategies increase labour productivity as long as the priorities are set in sectors related to pre-existing technological capabilities, indicating the fundamental importance of path-dependency in diversification choices. The findings deepen our understanding of regional development and innovation strategies, and have relevant implications for the implementation of appropriate policy instruments.
... Furthermore, the growing awareness that regional performance is intrinsically related to the set of localized capabilities and locally embedded knowledge has spurred debate among policymakers (Maskell and Malmberg, 1999). Recent policy prescriptions have progressively endorsed the idea of regional specialization based on branching arguments and revolving around the concepts of heterogeneity and path dependence in regional know-how bases, variety, and specialization strategies (Boschma, 2014;Colombelli et al., 2013;Rigby and Essletzbichler, 1997). Such policies have built on the identification of strategic areas of intervention by leveraging the role of industrial actors, the accumulated knowledge base, and the distinctive assets of the territory (Foray, 2014). ...
... Public policies aimed at supporting regions to sustain their competitive advantage by favouring branching processes should stimulate the investment of hosted universities in technology fields which are close to the local knowledge base. This empirical result provides support to the recent wave of regional policies implementing smart specialization strategies (Boschma, 2014). These policies aim to identify strategic areas of intervention to sustain regional innovation activities, by building on cumulated knowledge, collective intelligence, and distinctive assets of the territory (Foray, 2014). ...
This study investigates the relationship between the entry of universities into a new technology field and the innovative activities of firms located in the same geographical area. We aim to assess the presence of a significant correlation between academic research and technological specialization. The empirical setting is based on a dataset of 846,440 patent families, the output of 256 European regions and 428 local universities. The results of the fixed-effect models indicate a robust and positive relationship between the technological entry of academic institutions and the specialization of the region in the same domain. Furthermore, the technological distance between the portfolio of inventions filed by universities and that of co-localized firms is negatively correlated with the subsequent specialization of the hosting region, and this relationship is amplified by the entry of local academies. Several robustness checks have been performed. In particular, the results are tested on sub-samples that distinguish technology fields with lower and higher complexity and geographical regions with lower and higher innovative performance. The technological entry of universities has an additional positive effect for the strong and leading innovators whereas no significant premium or penalty was found for high and low-tech areas. This suggests that the entry of academic institutions into new technology fields occurring in a highly developed innovation ecosystem is more conducive to subsequent industrial specialization thanks to existing collaborations and transmission channels.
... Regional institutions are important path creation actors in their own right. Their embedded role in regional economies enables them to facilitate interactions between firms (Mattes, Huber and Koehrsen, 2015;Yu and Gibbs, 2017) in support of knowledge transfer and branching (Boschma and Franken, 2009;Dawley et al., 2015); to invest in repurposing regional resource endowments (Steen and Karlsen, 2014;Yu and Gibbs, 2017); to build confidence among developers and investors (Fornahal et al., 2012) including by setting a distinctive economic vision for their region (Boschma, 2014); and to undertake local policy experimentation (Grillitsch and Hansen, 2019). ...
... The economic development capability of regional actors, however, needs to be tempered by the reality of the vertical distribution of power. Path creation evaluations generally tell a story of regional policymakers being held back by centrally imposed constraints (Jessop, 1997;Boschma, 2014). Dawley et al. (2015) make this argument with respect to regional agencies in North East England and their attempts to cultivate offshore wind, as do Cowell et al. (2015) with respect to the Welsh Government's limited remit over aspects of energy policy. ...
This working paper applies the theory of 'path creation' to evaluate the emerging clean hydrogen economy in South Wales (UK). Drawing on interviews with fifteen participants, the findings support and expand upon existing perspectives on how new industries emerge. It will be argued that South Wales is well-placed to cultivate a clean hydrogen economy. However, barriers are apparent that need to be overcome, and their implications reconciled, to enable the region to progress into a mature stage of path creation. The paper draws conclusions which are, however, specific to this particular case and temporal context.
... 2011;Foray and Goenaga 2013). The S3 policy is an important advance as it fosters innovation based on regional advantages, emphasizing local demand (Boschma 2014). However, it leaves several critical questions unanswered, such as a problematic and unclear distinction between specialization and diversification (Hassink and Gong 2019). ...
European policy supports cutting-edge research on Industry 4.0, aiming to promote excellence and ensure a balanced distribution of regional Industry 4.0 capacities. We analyse Industry 4.0 research projects financed by the European Union’s framework programmes over a 14-year period, investigating whether less developed regions benefit from interaction with more advanced regions that have a stronger capacity to diversify their Industry 4.0 technologies. We find a strong path-dependency in technological diversification between programming periods. Moreover, while national Industry 4.0 programmes negatively affect the capacity of regions to diversify technologies, possibly generating a substitution effect, we find that regional networking does not support less diversified regions in mastering multiple technologies.
... Moreover, alongside the practical challenges of implementation, doubts persist about the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of smart specialisation (Morgan, 2015;Iacobucci and Guzzini, 2016;Barbero et al., 2021). It has been criticised as insufficiently theoretical, being a 'perfect example of policy running ahead of theory' (Foray, David and Hall, 2011;Boschma, 2014), leading to a lack of common understanding among researchers and practitioners about the nature and effective implementation of smart specialisation (McCann and Ortega-Argilés, 2015;Capello and Kroll, 2016;Griniece et al, 2017;Foray, 2019;Gianelle, Guzzo and Mieszkowski, 2019). Thus, there is an urgent need for greater theoretical coherence and empirical validation to strengthen the effectiveness and consistency of S3 across regions. ...
This paper explores the phenomenon of mimicry in the selection of economic domains for Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) and discusses the regional policy implications of strategic mimicry. By analysing S3 documents from European regions, we identify and distinguish between two general types of mimicry: ‘Follow the Peers’ and ‘Follow the Role Models,’ against the more desirable ‘Follow the Indicators’ priority selection strategy. Our findings reveal that although regions rely on their strengths by following the crucial indicators, thus exhibiting non-mimetic behaviour, there is a stronger tendency for regions to mimic popular domain portfolios, particularly those chosen by neighbouring regions and national strategies. Understanding these patterns in the selection of priority domains helps decision-makers balance mimicry and diversification, promoting specialization, new economic activities, and regional uniqueness.
... The application of relatedness metrics provides the identification of those industries and technological domains in which regions are more likely to reach or maintain a competitive advantage. In other words, relatedness allows us to determine whether a region possesses the relevant capabilities to diversify into a new industry and design paths of diversification strategies favouring structural change toward those activities that reveal an affinity to the regional economy (Asheim et al., 2011;Foray et al., 2012;Boschma, 2014;Valdaliso et al., 2014;Foray, 2015;McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2015;Iacobucci & Guzzini, 2016;Boschma, 2017;D'Adda et al., 2019b;Whittle, 2020;Boschma, 2021). According to the 'principle of relatedness', the likelihood of regions entering an economic activity depends on the cognitive proximity between the new activity and a region's prior activities . ...
Regions are currently facing a twin transition, involving a shift towards more environmentally friendly economies as well as the digitalization of economic activities. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the geography of green, digital, and twin economic activities in the UK, utilizing a novel dataset that captures these emerging sectors through a real-time industrial classification of firms. Additionally, the paper employs a relatedness approach to analyse local capabilities in the twin domain. The results underscore the crucial role of twin activities, encompassing both green and digital elements, in facilitating regional diversification into these respective sectors.
... The S3 concept was designed to address lessdeveloped regions to give them the chance to build or develop competitive advantages in their pool of activities (Foray, 2014). However, it is lagging regions in particular that frequently have to rely on weak governance structures, which combined with development constraints, hampers their effectiveness in terms of policy implementation (Boschma, 2014;McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2015;Rodríguez-Pose et al., 2014). Thus, S3 also require innovation in the policy environment for its correct and effective implementation, and a lack thereof will result in innovation and policy design processes that are likely to fail from the onset (Borrás, 2011;Moodysson et al., 2015). ...
Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) are implemented across European regions. However, investigations into whether S3 initiatives adequately match local knowledge capabilities are very scarce. This work analyses to what extent S3 policies are coherent with the local knowledge space of 164 European regions, respectively. We show to what extent regional S3 policies target ‘central’ technologies, and to what degree S3 policies also target ‘potential’ sectors of knowledge production in specific regional settings. Our findings provide a solution for how S3 policies could be designed in the future to overcome the gap between S3 vision and the reality of constraints in regions.
... This tension between strengthening the competitiveness of the most technologically advanced EU regions and trying to enhance the conditions of the less innovative ones through the same policy action has led to certainly relevant, but probably sub-optimal outcomes (see European Parliament 2017). The present paper aims at providing academics, policymakers, and EU evaluators with a new methodological tool allowing them to identify pairs of regions that exchange complementary knowledge more effectively than others, thus triggering, in this way, positive-relatedness mechanisms (Rigby et al. 2022) possibly leading to desirable-related diversification processes (Boschma 2014;Kogler and Whittle 2018;Balland et al. 2019;Calignano, Fitjar, and Hjertvikrem 2019) in light of more fruitful adoption of S3 initiatives (European Union 2023). ...
Research & Innovation (R&I) policy initiatives employed by the European Union (EU) across its regional economies are important instruments to ensure the scientific and technological progress along with the associated benefits. One relevant aspect in this regard is to encourage and enable collaboration between regional partners to enhance potential learning opportunities and to ensure cohesive long-term development patterns. Furthermore, frequently these initiatives are also targeted at specific technology sectors, such as the EU R&I policy actions towards nanotechnology. Based on an advance theoretical framework and data from the official EU project databases as well as regionalized European Patent Office data, the present study develops a methodological tool through which it is possible to identify effective collaboration settings, while providing policymakers and evaluators with a practical tool that will enable them to predict the possible outcomes of such critical EU-funded R&I projects from the onset.
... For recent evidence on university-industry knowledge transfer and how it takes place in Italy, see Grimaldi et al. (2021). 2 The idea that public intervention should promote rather than flatten regional diversification has found wide currency in European policy circles (see for example Barca, 2009;European Commission, 2012). This has been in particular through the increasing centrality given to the twin although not altogether identical concepts of "Constructing Regional Advantage" and "Smart Specialisation" (Boschma, 2013). As will be clarified in Sect. ...
As highlighted in systemic approaches to innovation, regions play an increasingly important role in designing and implementing place-based innovation policies. A wide debate has emerged on the limits and validity of different policy models, for example, between “platform” and “district-based” approaches or between a “corporatist” and an “evolutionary” Triple Helix. Within the EU Cohesion Policy framework, a number of technological districts (TDs) have been established since 2005 in the Italian “Convergence” regions to foster competitiveness, innovation, and research industry linkages. TDs have become critical actors in knowledge and technology transfer processes, and a significant amount of funding has been devoted to their development in the National Operational Programme for Research and Competitiveness (PON-R&C). In this work, we use methods drawn from social network analysis to locate TDs within the wider collaboration networks established through the PON-R&C programme. We highlight the specificity of TDs within the general policy and assess their ability to promote organisational and sectoral heterogeneity among project participants. We find that different network architectures coexist under the same policy umbrella and relate this variety to the ideal models identified in the literature.
... En la matière, force est de constater que les activités de production primaire sont un parent pauvre de la riche collection d'études de cas documentant le phénomène, plutôt portées sur des secteurs de pointe : nano et biotechnologies (Carvalho et Vale, 2018), intelligence artificielle (Doloreux et Turkina, 2021) ou plus anciens et massifs comme l'automobile. On sera également frappé du peu d'attention prêtée aux jeux proprement politiques qui animent les processus de diversification, lesquels font pourtant l'objet de réinvestissements récents par les politiques publiques, notamment à travers la Smart specialisation européenne (Boschma, 2014 ;Foray, 2015). Les investissements dans de nouvelles activités sont particulièrement risqués et rarement consensuels. ...
The diversification of regional economies has long been a leitmotif of regional development policies and is receiving renewed academic attention from geographers and economists. This paper develops a political approach to diversification by showing that social actors are likely to generate collectively, from the same activity and in the same region, various diversification projects in a more or less conflictual manner. Bifurcations in diversification trajectories are explained in terms of the dynamics of the political work (framing, instrumentation, and alliance) carried out by actors playing with the opportunities offered by their institutional context (sectoral and territorial). These theoretical propositions are tested by comparing two cases of emerging aquaculture in peripheral maritime regions (Brittany, Maritime Quebec).
... However, all this generates a set of challenges related to infrastructure, institutional and legislative structures, which are often lacking or underdeveloped in different regions, and which require innovation policy to be considered from the perspective of transformational failures rather than the simple structural failures that persist in the traditional economy [11][12][13]. ...
The development of the bioeconomy on regional and national levels is heavily reliant on the establishment of precise and efficient governance frameworks. These structures encompass a wide range of components, spanning from financial support to regulatory tools and limitations. These mechanisms play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges that emerge during the bioeconomy’s growth. In this context, the necessity for continuous research to underpin and guide bioeconomy policies, while also bridging existing knowledge gaps, is glaringly evident. The current study brings a new perspective, using hierarchical cluster analysis as an exploratory approach and a technique for generating hypotheses. Its aim is to assess the progress of EU countries concerning the bioeconomy, including sectors involved in biomass production and conversion. The research draws on data published by the European Commission and Eurostat for the years 2015 and 2020, to capture the changes brought about by the adoption of the 2030 Agenda. The research findings furnish valuable insights into advancements in the bioeconomy and the clustering of countries based on their performance levels. Notably, Belgium and Denmark emerge as standout performers, potentially offering exemplary models of best practices.
... «Ақылды мамандандырудың» еуропалық платформасының негізгі құралдарын атап өтейік: ESIF-viewer -бұл құрал ЕО инвестициялық және құрылымдық қорларының жоспарланған инвестицияларын іздеуге мүмкіндік береді [11]; ...
The object of the research is the hypothesis: most of the features of the “smart specialization” model are present, at least formally, in the traditional development strategies of the regions of Kazakhstan. The “pure” condition for testing the hypothesis is the absence of the phrase “smart specialization” in the strategies (programs) of regional development from 2012 to 2021; lack of indications that the “smart specialization” model was taken into account; lack of appropriate directives from the state authorities. The article evaluates the strategies of innovative development of selected regions of Kazakhstan according to the criteria of the “smart specialization” model. The information base of the research was served by open sources: specialized bases of normative and legal acts, official websites of regions. Adapted method of smart specialization RIS3 Self-Assessment Wheel was used for testing the advanced research hypothesis. The basic methodology of the European Commission is based on point evaluations (on a scale of 0–5) of strategic regions according to 18 criteria, which detail 6 steps for the creation and development of a regional strategy of smart specialization. After completing the assessment of regional strategies (programs), the final result was presented in the form of a “web” diagram, on which the strengths and weaknesses of the innovative development of the considered regions were highlighted.
... Smart specialization is a policy framework in the EU policy portfolio that combines top-down directionality with bottom-up activities involvement. According to Boschma [11], Smart Specialization has positive characteristics, such as a place-based and location-sensitive regional innovation policy strategy. Smart specialization has mobilized new forms and modalities of sub-national decision-making and coordination focused on collaborative engagement and policy formulation in public, private and civil society spheres. ...
The European Commission has made sustainable development a central element of its growth strategy for the next few years. From an all-encompassing perspective, the European Green Deal (EGD) represents the EU’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the “Smart Specialization Strategy” (S3), and the attempt of the EU at a position of global leadership in sustainable development. This paper states that an effective innovation-oriented policy, including a sustainable dimension, requires an adequate division of labour between the EC, national and regional/local governance levels, and the shift from S3 to S4 +, a smart specialization sustainable strategy. It also underlines how a territorial approach to policies is suitable for incorporating a five-helix innovation model and is well suited for implementing S4 +. Therefore, the Ecological Transition, illustrated in the EGD, requires a new governance design and management attitude. This contribution proposes a framework for implementing the new EGD strategy and the consequent implementation of the sustainability dimension. Numerous challenges focus on the sub-regional level highlighting the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) as a tailored governance model that can include Sustainability and innovation in a complete democratic setting.
... Turning to CRA in general, it developed as a response to the perception that EU technology and innovation policy was too narrowly focused on a few high-tech locations rather than accounting for a wider range of contexts (Boschma, 2014). CRA acknowledges the legacy of history for instance and it suggests that such 'related variety' should not be ignored in policy formulation. ...
As a lagging regional economy that underperforms the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland represents a number of continuing challenges that have a long history. In recent years, technologies and processes associated with Industry 4.0 have had little impact with a few exceptions. Yet these activities have become central to industrial policy and strategies in the last two decades, in spite of the path-dependent nature of the economy. The underperformance is exacerbated by Brexit and increased hybridity of the economy due to the Northern Ireland Protocol that appears to be a form of industrial policy to be analysed.
... Thus, gathering the data on the smart specialisation outcomes is almost an impossible task. As indicated in the paper by Balland et al. (2018), operationalisation of smart specialisation has been recognised as a "perfect example of policy running ahead of theory (Foray et al., 2011;Boschma, 2014), as an example for lacking of an 'evidence base' (Morgan, 2015;Unterlass et al., 2015) and building on 'anecdotal evidence rather than the application of theoretically grounded methodologies' (Santoalha, 2019;Iacobucci & Guzzini 2016). ...
The global economy has experienced great volatility and uncertainty during the last dec-ades. Economic effects of global recession in the period 2008-2009 showed to be diverse in terms of ter-ritorial impacts. This has raised interest in the empirical investigation of the causes of such territorial differences and supported the increase in literature dealing with the resilience concept and determi-nants of regional economic resilience. This research addresses literature gaps in understanding the role of smart specialisation process in regional labour resilience, as it is one of the cornerstones of the new place-based regional development policy approach in the European Union (EU). To this end, we have de-veloped a new proxy for smart specialisation and employed the data for EU regional labour resilience for two different periods, recession (2007-2009) and recovery (2009-2014), which is determined based on re-gional economic performance data. Then, the EU regions were grouped in four categories considering re-sistance and recovery dimension of the resilience concept. We provide the extension of the existing liter-ature by separately analysing the recovery dimension of the resilience concept in the short and long run. The multinomial logistic model enabled us to examine in detail the differential effects of all relevant re-silience determinants. Research results indicate significant and positive effects of smart specialisation on regional labour resilience, especially for regions of the most resilient group. Furthermore, our study con-firmed the significance of other determinants for regional labour resilience, such as stage of regional de-velopment, regional economic structure, population and education. The findings could be used for estab-lishing the theoretical background for important socio-economic channels through which smart special-isation affects regional labour resilience and creating effective regional development policy measures.
... This conceptualization of place-based leaders as both initiators and managers of change is pivotal, as it speaks to the agency of individuals, groups and organizations, their engagement with the region and their capacity to shape outcomes through influence, authority or some other dimension of power (Sotarauta, 2016). In the European Union, for example, the need for transformational leadership at the regional level has become more explicit through efforts by the public sector to implement smart specialization (Boschma, 2014). However, transformational leadership may result in the transactional management of public funds. ...
This paper considers the nature, origins and expression of place leadership in communities undergoing large-scale economic transformation. It examines where people look for leadership in the management of the places where they live, and how their perspectives are affected by an adverse event. It documents community attitudes on the influence those who occupy positions of authority have been able to exert on this transition, drawing on perceptions from places affected by the shutdown of the Australian automotive industry in the second decade of the twenty-first century. It seeks to understand which individuals and roles were seen to be influential in leading this process of change. This article gains insights into how leaders have an impact, and where this ability to effect change comes from. It does so with reference to the structural conditions embedded within Australian political life and the way leadership finds expression in periods of uncertainty and transformation. The paper finds communities are acutely aware of where the power to lead change resides, but concerns with the efficacy of that leadership have contributed to discontent. A greater focus on further empowering local leadership while delivering on long term expectations would have resulted in more positive perceptions.
MAD statement
This paper answers the question, how can local leaders manage large-scale, disruptive change such as the closure of a major employer or the shutdown of an entire industry? The paper makes clear that different types of leaders need to respond in varied ways, depending on their source of authority, their degree of connection to the affected community and the nature of the shock experienced by the local economy. Senior government leaders need to map out and deliver a roadmap for economic recovery, social service providers need to be responsive to local needs and those leaders living in the community must continue to strengthen social networks.
... It is a "placebased policy" (Barca 2009). Hence, the old productivity-oriented industrial policy at the national level has become more oriented toward regional socio-economic issues, which are still being studied (D Foray et al. 2012;H Kroll 2016;Boschma 2014;Capello and Kroll 2016). ...
This paper critically reviews the literature on multilevel governance issues in support of implementing Smart Specialization policies in EU regions. Using an evidence-based critical review approach, key literature that draws on three critical concepts is explored: multilevel governance, regional innovation policy, and Smart Specialization in various governance conditions and diverse regional resources. The evidence reviewed points to the critical role of multilevel governance in implementing Smart Specialization. Effective coordination mechanisms are essential building blocks to encounter the challenges of multilevel governance for Smart Specialization. More consequential, however, are substantial synergies that are solid, harmonious, and balanced among multi-stakeholders within institutions and across levels of government. This paper contributes to the limited literature on multilevel governance in support of the Smart Specialization policy. Further studies considering different types of regions are recommended to enrich future literature.
... The model of "smart specialization" as a policy tool, its conceptual structure and conditions for successful implementation are widely represented and form the second block of this research literature. The most valuable for this study are the works of Boschma (2013Boschma ( , 2016; Foray (2015Foray ( , 2016Foray ( , 2017; McCann, Ortega-Argilés (2013, 2016b); Radosevic (2017), which will be discussed further. The third part of literature consists of a review of European Commission documents related to "smart specialization". ...
A multi-threaded and simultaneous way of working and solving tasks is one of the challenges of modern management. Multitasking shapes the need for employees to have new skills, competences and a change in mentality, as well as to introduce a management system that will increase the efficiency of employees' activities. Skilful coping with multitasking contributes to a more harmonious and balanced functioning of the organization. The problem of multitasking is usually analysed in the context of private enterprises, whose flexibility and capabilities are much greater than in the case of public organizations. Therefore, the purpose of the publication is to diagnose the phenomenon of multitasking among administrative employees of state universities in Poland (on the example of the city of Lodz). Three following hypotheses arise from the adopted main objective:
• Hypothesis 1: Multitasking is a tool that modifies the intensity and quality of tasks
performed by the employees.
• Hypothesis 2: Multitasking is determined by the variety of employee attributes and tasks.
• Hypothesis 3: Employees are aware that multitasking changes the efficiency of their tasks.
Verification of a specific research hypothesis as well as inference in the context of the set goal
determines the use of appropriate research methods and techniques in both qualitative and
quantitative research. Empirical material was obtained using the questionnaire tool by the
means of the CAWI technique and direct observation and desk research were used for
qualitative research. The theoretical part of the article was based on the qualitative method,
i.e. a review of the literature on the subject. Initial studies were conducted at the Faculty of
Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz. They are of pilot character and test the tool used. Subsequently, nationwide research is planned to be carried out at all state universities in Poland.
Keywords: competences, multitasking, public organization
... On the other hand, when graduates engage in projects that are geographically distant from the ecosystem, they become less involved and thus remain at a moderate level of instrumental alumni engagement (see path 2b in Figure 2). Thus, our analysis pinpoints the role of technological trajectories and "smart specializations" (for example, Boschma, 2014) in driving instrumental alumni engagement, where strong connections between venture project activities and the supporting infrastructure fuel the dynamics of university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems. ...
Alumni engagement plays a crucial role in driving innovation in university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems. We employ an inductive, informant-centric research design to explore the pro- cessual dynamics surrounding the early alumni engagement of entrepreneurship graduates and how these translate into enter- prising behaviors that foster technology transfer and knowl- edge-intensive entrepreneurship. Our inductive analysis advances the theoretical understanding of the beginning phases of the alumni engagement process among entrepre- neurship graduates, the key drivers that make them gravitate toward different forms of alumni engagement, and the role and impact of their engagement in the surrounding ecosystem.
... Conversely, policymakers had vastly recourse to the concept of relatedness to design regional development policies. Most notably, the Constructing Regional Advantage (CRA) approach has adopted a 'contextual view' of policy intervention, which is expected to assist regional branching by supporting new sectors that have their roots in the regional knowledge base and technological field (Boschma, 2013). The CRA approach explicitly acknowledges technological relatedness as the main driver of regional diversification and calls for the implementation of policies that take into account regions' core activities (Foray et al., 2011;McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2014). ...
The paper proposes a critical review of the debate on related versus unrelated diversification undergoing within and across Evolutionary Economic Geography. It remarks the accumulating evidence on related diversification in regions, but it is mainly concerned with the sources and implications of unrelated diversification. It is claimed that the scope for unrelated diversification is narrower for lagging regions and it develops this claim by focusing on two sets of regions: the old industrial areas and the peripheral regions. Accordingly, unrelated diversification is depicted as deeply embroiled with the broader question of uneven regional development, but also as a potential catalyst of economic and technological convergence. A similar theoretical proposition is then advanced with respect to sustainability transitions, where unrelated diversification is eligible to undermine the detrimental role played by dominant technological regimes. Finally, it advocates for a proper assessment of the role of public policies in fostering processes of regional diversification and discusses the theoretical and methodological implications of including public policies in the EEG approach.
... The regional branching literature provides a considerable amount of evidence showing that regions stay close to their existing capabilities when developing new products and technologies (Boschma and Frenken, 2011;Evangelista et al., 2017). In this framework, the central role of relatedness in regional diversification is a pillar of the S3 approach (Boschma, 2014). S3 emerges as an outcome of the regional branching process, in which the proximity or relatedness to the existing structure of local competencies constrains possible diversification (Boschma, 2017). ...
This paper links the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) with technological congruence, which stems from the coherence of directed technological change with the structural conditions of local factor markets. We argue that complementary to regional branching, technological congruence is a crucial dimension of S3, and that it has powerful effects on total factor productivity (TFP). The spatial econometrics evidence for European regions over the period 1980–2011 shows that technological congruence has significant effects on TFP, even if potentially mitigated by some market limits that make policy intervention relevant. Therefore, some S3 policy implications are highlighted.
... Issues to further explore include procedural aspects of smart specialization such as the composition of the EDP that risks excluding outsiders and favoring vested interests (Benner 2014(Benner , 2017Boschma 2014;Grillitsch 2016;Hassink and Gong 2019;McCann and Ortega-Argilé s 2015). For example, Fitjar et al. (2019) summarize the pressures that the rollout of smart specialization in the EU in 2013-14 faced and that may have limited the possibilities for inclusiveness and policy reflexivity during EDPs, and Di Cataldo et al. (2020) presume that this fast rollout may have facilitated isomorphism. ...
The smart specialization approach has guided regional innovation policies in Europe for roughly a decade. However, the policy practice under the approach has met considerable criticism which suggests the existence of significant gaps between the conceptual level and the level of policy implementation. To explain and understand the reasons for these gaps, this article proposes an institutionalist perspective rooted in neo-institutional sociology. In particular, the article draws on concepts such as ceremony, myth, and isomorphism and argues that such an institutionalist perspective can provide one of several fields of further research on the political economy of regional innovation policy. Pursuing such research is particularly relevant to inform policymaking in the coming years, given the current tendency to re-orient smart specialization towards challenge orientation, directionality, normativity, and sustainability.
... In Romer's contribution (1986Romer's contribution ( , 1992a, the variety of technologies implies the diffusion of innovation and, consequently, an increase of the output variety of economic system, which is a necessary requirement for long-term world economic development (Saviotti 2002;Nelson et al. 2018;Pyka et al. 2020). In the literature on regional economic development related and unrelated variety is distinguished (Frenken et al. 2007): the former is concerned with the concentration of industries that present some form of similarity (Asheim et al. 2011;Boschma 2014), the latter concerns sectors that have no substantial complementary competences (Neffke et al. 2011;Content et al. 2016). Although the role of related and unrelated variety has not been definitively clarified, most studies show that regional economic systems need to diversify to grow (Content and Frenken 2016). ...
In the paper, we examine the relationship between the diversity of a competitive economy and the mechanisms that appear within economic development. We use the concept of transformation of the economic system to analyze innovation in the economy. A properly defined diversity function allows us to measure the diversity of the production system of a given economy as well as to relate the obtained value to certain properties of the mechanisms of economic evolution defined in the Hurwicz conceptual apparatus. We show that innovative mechanisms and eco-mechanisms can increase the diversity of the analyzed economic system. The conclusions are the results of mathematical theorems.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
The compact city has become the preferred and mainstream model for urban, peri-urban and sometimes even rural planning in the Nordic context. However, the compact city is increasingly contested as a model for sustainability and may be criticized for a functionalistic perspective on social practices and transitions. Besides, the compact city model is part of increasing transnational or global urban policy mobilities including generic models and strategies, and it may be argued that this contributes to the de-contextualisation of urban planning and development. In this chapter we scrutinize the spatialities of the compact city model and examine how the compact city model has played out in the Nordic context – focusing in particular on Oslo. We ask: how is the compact city developed and promoted as a spatial model? We argue that although the compact city has to some extent been promoted in influential policy circles as a universal model, the compact city in Oslo has some distinct features shaped by the Nordic context. In particular, these features can be attributed to welfare state governance centred on the public sector, yet it is also here we find some of the most significant differences between the Nordic countries. In closing, we discuss whether there is such a thing as a Nordic compact city model, and point to some of its political, social and cultural implications. Is there a pathway for a re-contextualized, relational and grounded compact city model?
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
Radical geography came only patchily to Nordic geography, and the development of theoretical Marxist geography was even sparser. But in the radical geography environment at Copenhagen University, a group of geographers in the 1970s developed a vocal and self-assured Marxist theory, which became known as the territorial-structure approach and drew its inspiration from the work of the GDR geographer Gerhard Schmidt-Renner. In this chapter we present a critical discussion of the territorial-structure approach as an example of an early theorisation of geography from a Marxist perspective. We discuss the central controversies that came to surround the approach, and we discuss the territorial-structure approach as a conscious effort to resist disciplinary specialisation and fragmentation of (human) geography. Our aim is not to resurrect the territorial-structure approach, but rather to investigate this theory as an important step towards socio-spatial theory in Nordic geography.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
This chapter focuses on some socio-spatial views by Nordic geographers who have studied the tendencies of politicisation vs. depoliticisation of human/nature relationships. First, I introduce early formulations of politics of nature research by showing the epistemological grounding and argumentation for the political in Nordic nature studies. This is followed by an overview of studies that have focused on depoliticising drives and turns in contemporary human/nature practices. The variations in handling and conceptualising the dominating aspects of neoliberal environmental governance will be described. Thereafter, I address some approaches of research within Nordic geography that are entangled in the processes and actors defending and promoting a (re)politicisation in nature-use. Finally, I discuss the Nordic content and bearing found in the geographical contributions included in this study.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
In this chapter we discuss how demands for social justice and struggles around social reproduction have evolved in the Nordic “periphery”, placing the struggles within a context of critical socio-spatial theorizing and earlier geographical research on uneven development within Nordic welfare states. We give examples from Sweden of how resistance in the northern periphery increasingly mobilizes around spatial justice and social reproduction rather than mainly around employment. Demands about the right to spatial justice challenge the rewarding of a specific place – usually the urban – of modernity, meaning-making and hub for democracy and resistance. And thus oppose the naturalization of uneven rual-urban geographies. Nordic critical geographers have researched inequalities within Nordic welfare states, including center-periphery divides and conflicts, and examined how these have increased with welfare state retrenchment. Feminist geographers highlight the centrality of battles around social reproduction – the right to environmental security, work, food, housing, healthcare, education, a meaningful and dignified life in both urban and rural places. We identify a tradition of empirically based geographical research on material conditions and changing socio-spatial forms of production and consumption, which suggests a socio-spatial theory useful in an era of crisis and increased privatization of nature and social reproduction.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
Research in economic geography on innovation and regional development is an important and thriving research area in Scandinavia, which has contributed significantly to theoretical and empirical advancements beyond the Scandinavian research environments. This chapter demonstrates how the field has developed and changed its focus over the years, touching upon and developing around central academic and societal topics from deindustrialisation, clusters and regional innovation systems to creativity, green transition and changing regional development paths. The chapter focuses on how research milieus have developed in Scandinavia, how theories, methodologies and methods have advanced and how researchers have worked together nationally and internationally during the last four decades.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
Through tracing what ‘landscape’ has meant, and the political and intellectual work that ‘landscape’ does, we in this chapter explore the shifting nature of Nordic landscape geography. We thereby aim to introduce readers to the role of the landscape concept within Nordic scholarship and critically engage with contemporary debates over the nature and meaning of landscape. Landscape was an important political concept long before the advent of geography as a discipline in the Nordic countries, though what landscape denoted differed between various national and linguistic settings. Based in our mapping of the concept as it has evolved within geography and related disciplines, we centre on three strands of landscape scholarship today: mediations on a particularly ‘Nordic’ substantive landscape concept, attempts to utilise landscape as a concept to influence planning, and attempts to utilise landscape as a concept to grasp environmental issues. Scrutinising these current traditions leads us to primarily underline the necessity of relational approaches to steer the concept away from a problematic and narrow emphasis on the local scale. Yet, and importantly, various relational approaches take analysis in different directions, leading us to also underscore the necessity of critically scrutinising where particular relational approaches might lead landscape geography.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
The development of Nordic gender geography is closely related to societal transformation. The way the gendered labour market is structured and re-structured is a recurrent theme for investigation. In this chapter, we discuss Nordic gender geography since its establishment in the 1980s, with the aim of scrutinising long-term and contemporary trends and challenges. We discern an engagement in issues based on socio-spatial conditions, where agency, identity and intersectional perspectives work together with materiality, institutions and structures. Nordic gender geography thereby contributes with a contextual gender theory, emphasising space as both a designer and an interpreter of gender relations. Regional and local gender relations become a player in the structure-agency relationship, and we argue that socio-spatial gender theorising can modify the idea of universal and all-embracing theoretical explanation of how gender is constructed. Nordic gender geography constitutes a prevailing and growing potential for a significant contribution to gender theory and to socio-spatial analysis of power.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
As an example of socio-spatial theorization within the Nordic context, this chapter is written as an autobiographic narrative of my intellectual development from the 1970s to 2021. It is a story involving a steady positioning in the ‘Nordic’ context, but within that a range of shifts in affiliations, as well as a participation in different intellectual networks – both Danish, Nordic and ‘International’ – all of which have influenced my thinking. The chapter is arranged in four parts: First, a presentation of some Nordic predecessors. This is followed by an intellectual history of what I call theoretical approximations to (a) a non-deterministic social ecology, (b) towards a theory of practice, and (c) an engagement with the formulation of a critical phenomenology – all involving issues of the urban question, of everyday life and of modalities of social space.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
Approaching Nordic human geography as an evolving community of practice with strong historical-geographical legacies, this chapter introduces the two overarching themes of the book. On the one hand, we foreground how geography has been, and is, theorised in Nordic human geography, particularly (but not exclusively) as socio-spatial theory. On the other hand, if often intersecting with the former, we seek to highlight the importance of historical-geographical context in geographical theorising and research. Following from this, and acknowledging that the balancing of these themes differs between the individual contributions, the chapter outlines the approach of the book.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
Throughout its recorded history, the aims of geography have shifted between synthesis and specialized systematic studies. Cosmography, as understood by Alexander von Humboldt and others, presented an ambitious synthesis of climate, topography, biogeography, settlement and human life. Explorations financed by geographical societies gradually led to growth of specialized disciplines, particularly in natural sciences. This broad activity was regarded as geography by the general public and those that established geography chairs 1870–1910. The first professors adhered to synthesis of human and physical geography and found relevant research themes. Initially geography was dominated by environmental determinism, possibilism and a focus on regional geography through synthesis. Gradually specialized research in systematic branches led to a nomothetic shift to spatial science, inspiring models in both human and physical geography. Synthesis of physical and human geography remained an aim within spatial science but provided few integrating research exemplars. Synthesis of physical and human geo-factors was fundamental for the first professors and was seen as a goal for many geographers in the following generations, but has been difficult to attain in research projects. However, present global changes give our discipline new relevance for research on global sustainability.
... One important step in the development of the knowledge base approach and its relevance for informing regional innovation policy was Asheim's participation in a DG Research initiated expert group in EU on 'Constructing Regional Advantage' (CRA) (Asheim et al., 2011). This was a forerunner for EU's new policy for regional development, 'Smart Specialisation' (Boschma, 2014). The CRA approach advocates an active role of policy and a broad-based innovation policy to promote innovation-based, new regional path development. ...
In intellectual histories of geography as well as in international relations, geopolitics is usually the business of great powers, understood as the expansion of hard power through territorial control. However, the existence of a ‘ Geopolitik of the weak’ has also been theorised, premised on the ability of smaller states – such as the Nordic countries – to secure their survival through a wider range of policy instruments. In this chapter, we analyse key themes in the work of two Nordic geographical thinkers deeply concerned with the place and status of their home countries in the era of high modernity – Rudolf Kjellén and Gudmund Hatt. Relying upon their scholarly works as well as relevant public debates circa 1905–1945, we trace the ‘small-state geopoliticking’ of Hatt and Kjellén, identifying three key characteristics of their style of small-state geopolitics: (1) determinism is qualified by voluntarism; (2) space is complemented by future; and (3) external expansion is sublimated into internal progress. In its reconceptualisation of living space as primarily concerned with existential survival as premised upon future progress, rather than outward-oriented territorial expansion, small-state geopolitics emerges as a highly situated, somewhat quaint but nonetheless significant element in Nordic theorising of geography.
In the practice of regional typology in Kazakhstan, it is customary to distinguish "resource regions." For conducting a comprehensive analysis of the socio-economic development, development of mechanisms for managing the innovative development of resource regions of Kazakhstan, a key criterion is the share of gross value added from the extraction of minerals in the structure of the gross regional product. Based on this indicator, four resource-rich regions of Kazakhstan (West Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda, Atyrau, and Mangystau regions) can be identified, where socio-economic development is predominantly driven by the extraction, export of oil and gas, overshadowing other forms of natural resource extraction.
The aim of the research is to examine the assumption that a significant portion of the attributes associated with the "smart specialization" model are formally integrated into traditional development approaches used by various regions of Kazakhstan.
Methodology. The article provides an assessment of the innovative development strategies of specific regions of Kazakhstan using criteria outlined in the "smart specialization" model. The study relies on publicly available sources, including specialized databases of regulatory acts and offi cial websites of regions.
Originality/value of the research. The value of the hypothesis in the study and evaluation of the parameters of the development programs of the regions of Kazakhstan lies in the use of the adapted method of the RIS3 self-assessment wheel, which evaluates the strategies of regional innovations in the field of intellectual specialization.
Research results. The results of the study and evaluation of regional strategies and programs allowed us to construct a «web diagram» as a result, which highlights the strengths and weaknesses of innovative development, and states the existence of problems of consistency between the elements of the strategy that stimulate innovative development of regions.
Subject. This article discusses the issues of efficiency and competitiveness of the regional economy. Objectives. The article aims to analyze the mechanisms for the implementation of interregional investment projects in Russia. Methods. For the study, I used the methods of systems and comparative analyses. Results. The article finds that a set of developed measures aimed at optimizing financial and economic interaction between the regions will contribute to solving the problem of regional budget deficit. In particular, it is necessary to develop and implement methodological recommendations for determining the percentage of regional participation in joint projects and for assessing their effectiveness in terms of influencing regional budgets. Conclusions. It is necessary to create conditions for intensifying public-private partnerships at the regional level.
В статье рассмотрен вопрос взаимосвязи кластерного развития экономики и стратегии «умной специализации» регионов: рассмотрены подходы к определению «умной специализации», основы для «умного роста» регионов, алгоритм трансформации региональной экономики в направлении «умной специализации». В работе проанализированы предпосылки для перехода на данную модель развития регионов России и стратегия пространственного развития России.
The article considers the issue of the relationship between cluster development of the economy and the strategy of "smart specialization" of regions: approaches to the definition of "smart specialization", the basis for "smart growth" of regions, the algorithm for transforming the regional economy in the direction of " smart specialization. The paper analyzes the prerequisites for the transition to this model of development of Russian regions and the strategy of spatial development of Russia.
This paper explores how elected politicians' decisions impact place-based policies (PBPs) and the resulting consequences. It emphasises that understanding the political factors influencing PBPs offers insights into their effectiveness and potential pitfalls. The article draws upon the behavioural political economy theory, suggesting that political decisions often deviate from the purely rational due to cognitive biases and social influences. It examines the critical role of territorial intermediation, explores the potential discord between policy designs and ground realities, and investigates how broader political dynamics shape these trajectories. Additionally, the article probes the obstacles, including psychological, institutional and contextual factors, that may hinder policy implementation. In conclusion, the article proposes new avenues of research in regional, urban and planning studies that highlight the complexity of the political processes influencing these policies and calls for a multidimensional analysis of these processes.
İlişkililik ve bölgesel çeşitlenme konusu son 15 yılda ekonomik coğrafya ve bölgesel kalkınma alanında en çok tartışılan konuların başında gelmektedir. Bu iki kavram, bir yandan bölgelerin büyümesinin ve farklı ekonomik faaliyetlere çeşitlenmesinin kaynaklarını açıklarken, öbür yandan endüstriyel gelişmenin bölgelerde nasıl ortaya çıktığını ve zaman içerisinde nasıl değiştiğini ve dallandığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bu kapsamında çalışma evrimsel ekonomik coğrafya literatüründe ön plana çıkan İlişkililik konsepti bağlamında Türkiye’de illerin ilişkili çeşitlilik ve bölgesel çeşitlenme dinamiklerinin incelenmesini amaçlamaktadır. 2012-2017 döneminde illere ait ürün bazında ihracat verilerinin kullanıldığı çalışmada entropi yöntemiyle ilişkili ve ilişkisiz çeşitlilik endeksleri hesaplanmıştır. Analiz sonuçlarına göre ilişkili ve ilişkisiz çeşitlilik değerleri bakımından iller arasında önemli heterojenlik gözlemlenmekle birlikte metropollerin hem ilişkili hem de ilişkisiz çeşitlilik bakımından yüksek değerlere sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Ayrıca bölgelerin ihracat portföyünün çeşitlenme karakteristiği incelendiğinde, illerin ağırlıkla mevcut üretken yapısı ile ilişkili ürünlere doğru çeşitlenme eğilimi olduğuna yönelik ampirik bulgular elde edilmiştir. Çalışmanın sonuçları, Türkiye’nin bölgesel kalkınma politikası ve akıllı uzmanlaşma stratejileri için önemli ipuçları sağlamaktadır.
Innovation is expected to play a key role for the green transition of existing economic structures. In Europe, this fact relates particularly to the concept of smart specialisation which is the key EU instrument for innovation and cohesion policy. While an increasing number of policy papers argues in favour of updating smart specialisation, considering, particularly the European Green Deal, others advise not to overcharge the instrument and focus on its original purpose. In this context, the article shows how smart specialisation has undergone several transformations since its proclamation and how its purpose has been adapted over time. A bibliometric analysis on the development of environmental sustainability in regional innovation highlights that both areas are interlinked since decades. On this basis, it is concluded that regional innovation and green transition can mutually benefit. Leveraging the transformative and collaborative nature of smart specialisation might constitute the basis for successfully rolling out the European Green Deal at the regional level.
Dijitalleşme, mobil iletişim ve yapay zekâ alanlarındaki ilerlemeler ve bu teknolojilerin kullanım yaygınlığı kamu yönetimi konseptini kaçınılmaz olarak dönüşüm sürecine sokmuştur. Bu dönüşüm sürecine entegrasyondaki gecikmeler ise ülkelerin ve toplumların her alanda rekabet düzeyini olumsuz etkilemektedir. Yine bu dönüşüm sürecinde yer alan ülkelerde bir yandan kamu hizmetlerinin kalitesi, kamu güvenliği, yönetişim vb. pek çok gösterge olumlu etkilenirken, diğer yandan ise özel hayatın gizliliği, özgürlükler, sosyal psikoloji gibi pekçok alanda yeni sorunlar ve tartışmalar meydana gelmektedir. Bu açıdan dünyada önde gelen bazı ülkeler bu kaçınılmaz süreçte devlet ve toplum yapıları ile gelişen teknolojiyi karşılıklı uyumlaştıracakları bir model arayışı içine girmişlerdir. Zira teknolojinin çevre ve insan tabiatıyla uyumu; toplumsal düzen, sürdürülebilir kalkınma ve sürdürülebilir gelişme için göz önünde bulundurulmak zorundadır. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, dünyada çeşitli ülkelerde uygulanmakta olan akıllı kamu hizmeti örneklerinden hareketle kamu hizmetinin bu yeni konsepti ile ilgili farkındalık oluşturmaktır. Bu çalışmada yöntem olarak literatür ve mevzuat taraması kullanılmıştır.
The relevance of the study is due to the active spread of the concept of smart specialization as a comprehensive territorial and sectoral approach to the development of territories not only in the EU but also in other countries, as well as the emergence of new directions and modifications. The article analyzes the ten-year evolution of the concept of smart specialization from a predominantly sectoral approach to a comprehensive balanced territorial-sectoral approach to determining the priorities for the development of regions based on unique competitive advantages based on entrepreneurial search in the context of interregional and macroregional interaction. The possibilities and prospects of using a smart specialization in the implementation of regional development policies of developing countries for the formation of innovative and technological industrial models of development and integration into global value chains have been evaluated. It has been established that at present the concept of smart specialization continues to develop and should consider such modern trends as technological connectivity of industries, digitalization, and convergence of technologies, blurring and increasing transparency of regional and state borders, glocalization, the development of interrelated processes of "competition", "co-evolution", and "co-specialization" of territories.
A obra seminal de Nelson e Winter (1982) pavimentou as bases para o desenvolvimento da nova abordagem teórica evolucionária, adicionando a inovação na dinâmica econômica. Este estudo realizou uma revisão da literatura evolucionária a respeito da dinâmica do progresso tecnológico, analisando diferenças entre países centrais e periféricos, e discutindo também a dinâmica da inovação em nível regional. Mais especificamente, objetivou-se identificar e situar o desenvolvimento, a partir do progresso tecnológico, estabelecendo os pontos de conexão entre as abordagens neoschumpeteriana/evolucionária e o estruturalismo cepalino. Em especial, foi discutido os principais avanços da Geografia Econômica Evolucionária e as perspectivas de estudo, que envolvem as questões de smart specialization, resiliência regional e as tecnologias relacionadas e não relacionadas na diversificação regional, sendo importantes os avanços desses temas para o contexto da periferia.
Conceived in the framework of regional studies on Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) development, this special issue strengthens research efforts oriented towards assembling a technology-enhanced approach to S3 policymaking. First, it sheds light on fundamental methodological limitations that affect S3 development and reports on the digital support tools currently available. Second, it offers a knowledge base for producing novel digital applications that align with the overlooked needs of S3 orchestrators. Third, it complements this practical input with theoretical advancements in regional innovation studies by addressing intellectual questions and policy issues of pivotal importance for the S3 debate.
Today, economic growth is widely understood to be conditioned by productivity increases which are, in turn, profoundly affected by innovation. This volume explores these key relationships between innovation and growth, bringing together experts from both fields to compile a unique Handbook. © Philip Cooke, Bjørn Asheim, Ron Boschma, Ron Martin, Dafna Schwartz and Franz Tödtling 2011. All rights reserved.
This paper investigates whether related variety, among other types of spatial externalities,
affected regional growth in Spain at the NUTS 3 level during the period 1995–2007.We
found evidence that related variety matters for growth across regions, especially when using two new methods that measure revealed relatedness between industries. The first method is based on Porter’s cluster classification while the second method uses the proximity index proposed by Hidalgo et al. Our analyses show that Spanish provinces with a wide range of related industries tend to show higher economic growth rates, once we control for other determinants of growth.
How do regions diversify over time? Inspired by recent studies, we argue that regions diversify into industries that make use of capabilities in which regions are specialized. As the spread of capabilities occurs through mechanisms that have a strong regional bias, we expect that capabilities available at the regional level play a larger role than capabilities available at the country level for the development of new industries. To test this, we analyze the emergence of new industries in 50 Spanish regions at the NUTS 3 level in the period 1988-2008. We calculate the capability-distance between new export products and existing export products in Spanish regions, and provide econometric evidence that regions tend to diversify into new industries that use similar capabilities as existing industries in these regions. We show that proximity to the regional industrial structure plays a much larger role in the emergence of new industries in regions than proximity to the national industrial structure. This suggests that capabilities at the regional level enable the development of new industries.
Smart specialisation is a policy concept that has enjoyed a short but very exciting life! Elaborated by a group of academic “experts” in 2008, it very quickly made a significant impact on the policy audience, particularly in Europe. Such a success story in such a short period of time is a perfect example of “policy running ahead of theory”: while smart specialisation seems to be already a policy hit and policy makers show some frenetic engagements towards smart specialisation, the concept is not tight in particular as an academic concept. Many statements and arguments about smart specialisation have not been yet based on a sound base of empirical work so that the plea in favor of smart specialisation and the tools and instruments to support a smart specialisation strategy are made of more wishes and hopes than of empirical (stylized) facts. There is therefore a growing gap between the policy practice and the theory. In this paper, we expose and explain the minimal set of arguments and statements that have created this situation of smart specialisation having “political salience” which makes policy makers eager to “do it” in spite of a modest theoretical framework to guide its application or an adequate evidence base to help regulate its implementation. Then we will define a research agenda that addresses issues of fundamental understanding, empirical observations and measures and operationalization of the assessment of potential for smart specialisation and of the tools to realize the potential of the concept.
This paper examines the arguments underpinning the smart specialisation concept, an idea which originally emerged from the sectoral growth literature, and one which has recently been applied with to the regional policy context. The shift from a sectoral to a regional context appears prima facie to be quite straightforward but this paper explains that translating the idea to a regional policy context is rather more complex that it at first appears and implies some changes in both interpretation and implications. The outcomes of this are that in a regional policy setting the smart specialisation logic is seen to be broadly consistent with the overall reforms of EU Cohesion Policy. However, in a regional policy setting there is no reason why ICTs should be prioritised over many forms of intangible capital, and the promotion of technological diversification via entrepreneurship may need to be related to specific sectors or activities.
This paper analyzes the emergence of new technology-based sectors at the regional level. We focus on the specific case of nanotechnology as representative of an industry based on a technology still in infancy whose evolution can be reliably traced on the basis of filed patent submissions. We implement a methodological framework based on the „product-space? approach, which allows us to investigate whether the development of new technologies is linked to the structure of the existing local knowledge base. We use patent data over the period 1986-2006 to carry out the analysis at the NUTS 2 level over the EU 15 countries. The results of the descriptive and econometric analysis supports the idea that history matters in the spatial development of a sector, and that the technological competences accumulated at the local level are likely to shape the future patterns of technological diversification.
The evolutionary turn in economic geography has proposed that regional diversification is a path-dependent process whereby new industries grow out of preexisting industrial structures through technologically related localized knowledge spillover. This paper examines if this also applies for industries developed around emerging radical technology. I develop a new measure for technological relatedness between the knowledge base of the region and that of a radical technology, namely, fuel cells. It is demonstrated that even in the case of a high degree of radicalness and discontinuity, knowledge generation is still cumulative in its spatial and cognitive dimensions, corroborating the evolutionary thesis.
It has become clear that the idea of regional learning is an inadequate way of evolving regional economic development because of numerous problems of composition or utilizing samples of one, learning legacies and delays and impossibility of repeat experience. So, perforce, to offset regional imbalances responsible agencies are having to explore solutions endogenously in greater measure. This means constructing regional advantage, not an easy thing to do, by integrating and exploiting a range of assets from economic strengths to knowledge assets, good governance and creativity. Of great importance in this is seeking to promote “related variety” among economic activities. Single innovations diffuse swiftly across technology “platforms” into related industries because absorptive capacity is high among them. The key trick in constructing regional advantage is designing appropriate policy platforms that mix variable policy instruments in an integrated and judicious manner. This paper maps out a theoretical approach enabling this to be accomplished.
abstractThe question of how new regional growth paths emerge has been raised by many leading economic geographers. From an evolutionary perspective, there are strong reasons to believe that regions are most likely to branch into industries that are technologically related to the preexisting industries in the regions. Using a new indicator of technological relatedness between manufacturing industries, we analyzed the economic evolution of 70 Swedish regions from 1969 to 2002 with detailed plant-level data. Our analyses show that the long-term evolution of the economic landscape in Sweden is subject to strong path dependencies. Industries that were technologically related to the preexisting industries in a region had a higher probability of entering that region than did industries that were technologically unrelated to the region's preexisting industries. These industries had a higher probability of exiting that region. Moreover, the industrial profiles of Swedish regions showed a high degree of technological cohesion. Despite substantial structural change, this cohesion was persistent over time. Our methodology also proved useful when we focused on the economic evolution of one particular region. Our analysis indicates that the Linköping region increased its industrial cohesion over 30 years because of the entry of industries that were closely related to its regional portfolio and the exit of industries that were technologically peripheral. In summary, we found systematic evidence that the rise and fall of industries is strongly conditioned by industrial relatedness at the regional level.
The article presents a regional innovation policy model, based on the idea of constructing regional advantage. This policy model brings together concepts like related variety, knowledge bases and policy platforms. Related variety attaches great importance to knowledge spillovers across complementary sectors, possibly in a region. Then, the paper categorises knowledge into ‘analytical’ (science based), ‘synthetic’ (engineering based) and ‘symbolic’ (artistic based) in nature, with different ‘virtual’ and real proximity mixes. Finally, the implications of this are traced for evolving ‘platform policies’ that facilitate economic development within and between regions in action lines appropriate to related variety and differentiated knowledge bases.
Innovation has moved to the foreground in regional policy in the last decade. Concrete policies were shaped by “best practice models” derived from high-tech areas and well performing regions. These are often applied in a similar way across many types of regions. Here an attempt is made to show that there is no “ideal model” for innovation policy as innovation activities differ strongly between central, peripheral and old industrial areas. In this paper we analyse different types of regions with respect to their preconditions for innovation, networking and innovation barriers. Based on this classification different policy options and strategies are developed.
Science, technology and innovation policy play increasingly important rolesin modern societies at many levels of development. This paper reviews therationale for such policies and places them in the context of our understandingof the institutions and processes through which knowledge is accumulated, storedand disseminated. In particular, we contrast the market failure rationale forinnovation policy with the newly developed idea of systemic failure withininnovation systems as a policy rationale. The central policy question becomescan we improve upon the self-organisation of innovation systems. Wherever thereare missing components or missing linkages within the innovation system thenthis question can be answered to the affirmative.
This article presents estimates of the impact of regional variety and trade linkages on regional economic growth by means of export and import data by Italian province (NUTS 3) and sector (three-digit) for the period 1995-2003. Our results show strong evidence that related variety contributes to regional economic growth. Thus, Italian regions that are well endowed with sectors that are complementary in terms of competences (i.e., that show related variety) perform better. The article also assesses the effects of the breadth and relatedness of international trade linkages on regional growth, since they may bring new and related variety to a region. Our analysis demonstrates that regional growth is not affected by simply being well connected to the outside world or having a high variety of knowledge flowing into the region. Rather, we found evidence of related extraregional knowledge sparking intersectoral learning across regions. When the cognitive proximity between the extraregional knowledge and the knowledge base of a region is neither too small nor too large, real learning opportunities are present, and the external knowledge contributes to growth in regional employment. Copyright (c) 2009 Clark University.
Related variety is important to regional growth because it induces knowledge transfer between complementary sectors at the regional level. This is accomplished through three mechanisms: spinoff dynamics, labor mobility and network formation. They transfer knowledge across related sectors, which contributes to industrial renewal and economic branching in regions. Since these mechanisms of knowledge transfer are basically taking place at the regional level, and because they make regions move into new growth paths while building on their existing assets, regional innovation policy should encourage spinoff activity, labor mobility and network formation. Doing so, policy builds on region-specific assets that provides opportunities but also sets limits to what can be achieved by policy. Public intervention should neither apply �one-size-fits-all� approaches nor adopt �picking-the- winner� strategies, but should aim to connect complementary sectors and exploit related variety as a source of regional diversification.
The relatedness between the technologies used among firms in a region is thought to affect the nature and scope of knowledge spillovers. In this paper, we set out how the concepts of technological relatedness and related variety have enriched recent literature in economic geography. First, applying the notion of related variety has led to new insights in the externalities literature. There is increasing evidence that regions with different but technologically related activities (related variety) benefit more from spillovers. Second, the technological relatedness concept has provided additional insights to the question whether extra-regional linkages matter for regional growth: it is not inflows of extra-regional knowledge per se, but inflows of knowledge that are related to the existing knowledge base of regions that might be crucial. Third, the concept of relatedness has found its way in network analysis. There is evidence that collaborative research projects tend to create more new knowledge when they consist of agents that bring in related competences. Linking network dynamics to the industry life-cycle approach, one expects that cognitive proximity levels between cluster firms will increase over time, with detrimental effects on their performance levels. Fourth, the cluster literature often regards labor mobility as a key mechanism through which knowledge diffuses, but no attention has been paid to relatedness until recently. And fifth, studies demonstrate that countries and regions tend to expand into sectors that are closely related to their existing activities. To the extent that new industries emerge from related industries, the sectoral composition of a regional economy affects the diversification opportunities of regions in the long run. This process of sectoral branching occurs primarily at the regional level, because it becomes manifest through a number of knowledge transfer mechanisms (i.e. spinoff activity, firm diversification, labor mobility and netw
In economic theory, one can distinguish between variety as a source of regional knowledge spillovers, called Jacobs externalities, and variety as a portfolio protecting a region from external shocks. We argue that Jacobs externalities are best measured by related variety (within sectors), while the portfolio argument is better captured by unrelated variety (between sectors). We introduce a methodology based on entropy measures to compute related variety and unrelated variety. Using data at the NUTS-3 level in the Netherlands for the period 1996-2002 we find that Jacobs externalities enhance employment growth, while unrelated variety dampens unemployment growth. Productivity growth can be explained by traditional determinants including investments and R&D expenditures. Implications for regional policy follow
Do regions compete, as firms do? How does one deal with the fact that regions, unlike organizations, are entities that do not act? Does it make sense to talk about the ability of regions to generate new variety? This paper aims to address these questions from an evolutionary perspective. It is meaningful to talk about regional competitiveness when the region affects the performances of local firms to a considerable degree. This is especially true when the competitiveness of a region depends on intangible, non-tradable assets based on a knowledge and competence base embedded in a particular institutional setting that are reproduced and modified through the actions and repeated interactions of actors. Although regions are increasingly becoming collective players actively responding to an increasing exposure to extra-regional competition, the paper explains why there are serious limits in enhancing the competitiveness of regions. By doing so, it questions the usefulness of benchmarking practices with the purpose of improving regional competitiveness: there exists no 'optimal' development model, it is difficult to copy or imitate a successful model from elsewhere, and new trajectories often emerge spontaneously and unexpectedly in space.
The principal objective of this paper is to formulate some possible links between evolutionary economics and regional policy, a topic that has not (yet) been covered by the literature. We firstly give a brief overview of some issues of regional policy, conceived as a strategy to influence the spatial matrix of economic development. Then, we outline what we take to be the essential arguments and components of evolutionary economics. More in particular, we focus attention on the economic foundation of technology policy from an evolutionary perspective, and how this deviates from the so-called "equilibrium" rationale. Then, we examine in what way evolutionary insights may be helpful for regional policy matters. Our main emphasis is to investigate the degrees fo freedom policy makers may have to determine the future development of regions. When evolutionary mechanisms like chance and increasing returns are mainly involved in the spatial formation of new economic activities, there are several, but quite contradictory, options for policy makers. On the one hand, the importance of early chance events implies that multiple potential outcomes of location are quite thinkable. This is a principal problem for regional policy because new development paths can not be planned or even foreseen. On the other hand, policy makers may have a role to play here. Since space exercises only a minor influence on the location of new economic activities, there is room for policy makers to act and to build-up a favourable local environment. In this respect, urbanisation economies may offer advantages of flexibility secured by a diversity of activities which tends to prevent a process of negative lock-in. When evolutionary mechanisms like selection and path dependency are crucial for the geography of innovation, policy makers are expected to have more influence on the spatial pattern of innovation. In such circumstances, new variety is regarded as strongly embedded in its surrounding environment: the local environment acts as a sort of selection mechanism because it may, or may not, provide conditions favourable to meet the new requirements of new technology. Adaptation to change is largely constrained by the boundaries of the spatial matrix laid down in the past: only minor modifications tend to take place and do not undermine the logic of the spatial system.
In recent research and literature in which regional development concepts and regional innovation policy have been addressed, a strong interest in the role of knowledge and learning has been shown. In this, a strange phenomenon can be observed. Whereas much work is concentrated on learning within regions, and some reference is made to learning from external sources, scant attention is paid to the interregional dimension. This seems to amount to a dilemma: although development concepts and policy strategies are themselves the subject of constant exchange and learning processes at an interregional level, the interregional dissemination of such concepts, and concomitant processes of learning, are largely ignored. Even where a supraregional perspective is adopted, little is said, either analytically or empirically, about the nature and role of learning processes between regions. One basic message that follows from this, the authors conclude, is that researchers working on regional development and regional policy need to become more reflexive. In order to achieve this, a model of knowledge cycles is presented. The model not only helps our understanding of how observations taken from regional experiences can be translated into more general analytical concepts and policy prescription, it also draws the necessary attention to the way that such general abstractions are part, as well as catalyst, of processes of interregional learning.
What are the underlying rationales for industrial policy? Does empirical evidence support the use of industrial policy for correcting market failures that plague the process of industrialization? This article addresses these questions through a critical survey of the analytical literature on industrial policy. It also reviews some recent industry successes and argues that public interventions have played only a limited role. Moreover, the recent ascendance and dominance of international production networks in the sectors in which developing countries once had considerable success implies a further limitation on the potential role of industrial policies as traditionally understood. Overall, there appears to be little empirical support for an activist government policy even though market failures exist that can, in principle, justify the use of industrial policy. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
This paper explores the regional innovation paradox and its policy implications. The regional innovation paradox refers to the apparent contradiction between the comparatively greater need to spend on innovation in lagging regions and their relatively lower capacity to absorb public funds earmarked for the promotion of innovation and to invest in innovation related activities compared to more advanced regions. Empirical analysis of the nature of the paradox shows that there are strong complementarities between business, education and government spending on R&D and that technology/innovation policy and industrial policies tend to work in opposite directions. Our analysis suggests that resolution of the paradox requires policies that: (i) increase the innovation capacity of regions by working both on the demand and the supply side of the system to increase both private and public sector investment in innovation activity; and (ii) integrate technology policy and industrial policy by encouraging expenditure on innovation activity within mainstream industrial policy programmes. The penultimate section of the paper outlines and assesses policy initiatives/experiments along these lines and suggests how they might be developed in the future. Copyright 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Smart specialisation signals a new era of regional innovation policy in the EU and constitutes a major challenge to regions, member states and the European Commission. This article explores the challenge in the context of a critical review of regional innovation policy repertoires in the Basque Country and Wales, where active industrial policies have been pursued for thirty years. What a region is capable of doing in the future, the article suggests, partly depends on what it has done in the past and what it has learned from the past. Policy path dependence implies that regions will not be designing their smart specialisation strategies in a vacuum, starting from scratch, and therefore the recent past may be a guide to the near future.
Strategic management has been increasingly characterized by an emphasis on core competences. Firms are advised to divest unrelated businesses and return to core business. Moreover, competitive advantage is now increasingly seen as a matter of efficiently deploying scarce knowledge resources to product markets. Much of this change in emphasis has occurred because of the emergence of a unified and rigorous approach to strategy, often called the resource-based approach. This Reader brings together extracts from the seminal articles that created this dominant perspective in strategic management. It includes the pioneering work of Selznick, Penrose, and Chandler and more recent writing by Wernerfelt, Barney, Teece, and Prahalad and Hamel.
This paper introduces indicators of regional related variety and unrelated variety to conceptually overcome the current impasse in the specialization-diversity debate in agglomeration economics. Although various country-level studies have been published on this conceptualization in recent years, a pan-European test has been missing from the literature until now. A pan-European test is more interesting than country-level tests, as newly defined cohesion policies, smart-specialization policies, place-based development strategies and competitiveness policies may be especially served by related variety and unrelated variety conceptualizations. We test empirically for the significance of variables based on these concepts, using a cross-sectional data set for 205 European regions during the period 2000-2010. The results confirming our hypotheses are that related variety is significantly related to employment growth, especially in small and medium-sized city-regions, and that specialization is significantly related to productivity growth. We do not find robust relationships that are hypothesized between unrelated variety and unemployment growth.
Rigby D. L. Technological relatedness and knowledge space: entry and exit of US cities from patent classes, Regional Studies. US patent and citation data are used to measure technological relatedness between major patent classes in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The technological relatedness measures, constructed as the probability that a patent in class j will cite a patent in class i, form the links of a knowledge network. Changes in this knowledge network are examined from 1975 to 2005. Evolution of the patent knowledge base within US metropolitan areas is tracked by combining the knowledge network with annual patent data for each city. Entries and exits of cities from patent classes are linked to local and non-local measures of technological relatedness.
Essletzbichler J. Relatedness, industrial branching and technological cohesion in US metropolitan areas, Regional Studies. Work by evolutionary economic geographers on the role of industry relatedness for regional economic development is extended into a number of methodological and empirical directions. First, relatedness is measured as the intensity of input–output linkages between industries. Second, this measure is employed to examine industry evolution in 360 US metropolitan areas. Third, an employment-weighted measure of metropolitan technological cohesion is developed. The results confirm that technological relatedness is positively related to metropolitan industry portfolio membership and industry entry and negatively related to industry exit. The decomposition of technological cohesion indicates that the selection of related incumbent industries complements industry entry and exit as the main drivers of change in metropolitan technological cohesion.
We are grateful to Sharon Boardman for help in preparing this paper, and to Andrew James who has collaborated with us in the development of the ideas on complex adaptive policy making.
Cohesion policy is by far the largest development policy of the EU. The present paper examines the debates regarding place-neutral versus place-based policies for economic development. Many of the previously accepted arguments have been called into question by the impacts of globalisation and a new response to these issues has emerged, a response both to these global changes and also to non-spatial development approaches. The study unveils that the serious limitations in the availability of evidence on cohesion policy results have certainly played a relevant role in discouraging public debate, as have the limitations of the reporting system.
A focus on constructing regional advantage requires an 'unpacking' of what makes territorial agglomerations important for innovation and competitiveness by disclosing and revealing the contingencies, particularities and specificities of the various contexts and environments where knowledge creation, innovation and entrepreneurship take place. In order to achieve more effective regional innovation policy, this paper presents and discusses three dimensions along which such unpacking can take place. These dimensions refer to (1) specific industrial knowledge bases, (2) globally distributed knowledge networks and (3) different territorial competence bases.
This paper explores the political and economic origins of a science park in Linköping, Sweden. It shows how different "innovation platforms" emerged to develop the medical industrial sector. An innovation platform is a foundation for growth corresponding to a given set of organizations or networks that incubate and sustain innovative teams tied to a given sector. Large firms and incubator-linked science parks represent different kinds of innovative platforms. The paper centres on the concept of the "managerial equation", arguing that growth projects like science parks build on coalitions and networks linking innovative resources, acquired knowledge tied to a given sector and power linked to decision-making power and financial resources. Changes within these elements of the equation explain the rise and fall of innovative platforms. Failures in learning in one platform lead to the rise of another. An absence of power (such as supporting resources) can also account for platform changes. Regional development decisions do not simply reflect path dependent specializations as regions use related capacities to break into "new" sectors. Commitments to Triple Helix formations linking universities, corporations and the government reflect changes within each branch of the Helix and political decision-making creating a diversity of development pathways.
Regional development strategies should be based on the sound assessment of regional resources, as well as on forming dynamic capabilities aiming to develop the resource configurations in order to form regional competitive advantage. In this study, the concept “regional development platform” is used as a tool for assessing the regional potentials on which sustainable, competitive advantage could be built. The Regional Development Platform Method (RDPM) is presented as a tool for designing and managing a regional innovation system. It consists of eight phases, in which the underlying potential in the region is explored and the exploitation of the potential organized. The experiences gained from applying the RDPM in the Lahti region, Finland, are used to illustrate the article.
Regional diversification is high on the scientific and political agenda. As many regions are currently facing economic decline
due to the economic crisis, there is increasing awareness that there is a need to develop new economic activities, in order
to compensate for losses in other parts of their regional economies. Economic geographers have raised the question how to
develop new growth paths in regions over and over again, but this question has largely remained unanswered until recently
(Scott 1988; Storper and Walker 1989; Martin and Sunley 2006; Simmie and Carpenter 2007). For instance, there is still little
understanding of how old industrial regions may overcome structural problems, such as congestion, overspecialization, a bad
image, and inflexible institutions, which, according to many, make them unlikely places for new industries to emerge. However,
some do quite well, while others do not, but there is still little known what are the reasons behind that (Hassink 2005).
In the presence of uncertainty about what a country can be good at producing, there can be great social value to discovering costs of domestic activities because such discoveries can be easily imitated. We develop a general-equilibrium framework for a small open economy to clarify the analytical and normative issues. We highlight two failures of the laissez-faire outcome: there is too little investment and entrepreneurship ex ante, and too much production diversification ex post. Optimal policy consists of counteracting these distortions: to encourage investments in the modern sector ex ante, but to rationalize production ex post. We provide some informal evidence on the building blocks of our model.
In this paper, we investigate the relationship between location patterns, innovation processes and industrial clusters. In order to do this we extend a transactions costs-based classification into a knowledge-based taxonomy of clusters, along the lines suggested by a critical revision of the main assumptions underlying most of the existing literature on spatial clusters. Our arguments show that the transactions costs approach and the innovation and technological regimes framework are broadly consistent, and that real insights into the microfoundations, nature, and evolution of clusters can be provided by these classification systems.
This paper investigates the issue of innovation policy within a regional context. It is presented that the perspective one takes is important both in how one interprets the processes and relationships involved, but also in the way one identifies barriers and problems in policy formation and how one resolves them. The paper explores a number of contrasting perspectives in relation to innovation policy and the regions and seeks to highlight the implications of this both for policy, but also in the development of our conceptual understanding about innovation and geography.
The article analyses Hayek's critical assessment of purposeful interventions into evolutionary markets. To check the correctness of Hayek's neglect of successful intervention into markets, the article focuses on the long-term devaluation of private opportunities ('creative destruction') as an overall feature of evolutionary markets. A general concept of interventionism is offered which refers to the economic power of the state within a market order. A theoretical framework is developed which encompasses four ideal-typical scenarios. The Hayekian critical view on interventionism is integrated as a special case, while the possibility of successful intervention also exists.
Unlike what is commonly believed, the last two decades have not witnessed the twilight of industrial policy. Instead, incentives and subsidies have been refocused on exports and direct foreign investment, in the belief that these activities are the source of significant positive spillovers. The challenge in most developing countries is not to rediscover industrial policy, but to redeploy it in a more effective manner. This paper lays out an institutional framework for accomplishing this objective. A central argument is that the task of industrial policy is as much about eliciting information from the private sector on significant externalities and their remedies as it is about implementing appropriate policies. The right model for industrial policy is not that of an autonomous government applying Pigovian taxes or subsidies, but of strategic collaboration between the private sector and the government with the aim of uncovering where the most significant obstacles to restructuring lie and what type of interventions are most likely to remove them.
Regions and Innovation Policy
OECD (2011), Regions and Innovation Policy, OECD Reviews of Regional Innovation.
Paris: Oecd.
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