Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography Research Research projects Economic development and policy
Constructing Regional Advantage: Towards State-of-the-Art Regional Innovation System Policies in Europe?

Research Focus on Economic Development and Policy

Research projects

The term "year" refers to the start year of the research project in case of "Current research projects" and to the time of completion in case of "Completed research projects". For "Current research projects" the most recent project appears at the top, for "Completed research projects" the most recently completed project appears at the top.

Current research projects

Constructing Regional Advantage: Towards State-of-the-Art Regional Innovation System Policies in Europe?

Led by:  Prof. B. Asheim (Lund University, Sweden), Prof. R. Boschma (Utrecht University, The Netherlands), Franz Tödtling (University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria), Markku Sotarauta (University of Tampere, Finland)
Team:  Prof. R. Boschma, Dr. Tom Broekel (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
Year:  2010
Funding:  European Science Foundation Collaborative Research
Duration:  2008 - 2010
Is Finished:  yes

Details: Globalisation pressures force European regions to enhance their competitiveness. The capability of regions to generate, apply and exploit new knowledge and to innovate has become a key factor of their competitiveness. Often, such competitive advantages do not emerge spontaneously, but are the results of collective actions and initiatives taken by firms, research organizations and governments at various levels. Regions are considered a key level where innovation processes are shaped, coordinated and governed through localized capabilities such as specialized resources, skills, institutions and common social and cultural values.

Concomitantly a more system (cluster and RIS)-oriented regional innovation policy has emerged to construct regional advantage. However, policies for constructing regional advantage cannot be based on one “best practice” model but should reflect the different conditions and problems of the respective regions and RIS. These vary e.g. between types of RIS (such as institutionally “thick” or “thin” RIS; networked or fragmented RIS) as well as the dominating knowledge base of local industries (analytical, synthetic, symbolic). So far very little is known on how policies for constructing regional advantage can work in such different settings. The proposed project aims at filling this gap by comparing policy initiatives in different regional, institutional and sectoral settings.

Completed research projects

Constructing Regional Advantage: Towards State-of-the-Art Regional Innovation System Policies in Europe?

Led by:  Prof. B. Asheim (Lund University, Sweden), Prof. R. Boschma (Utrecht University, The Netherlands), Franz Tödtling (University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria), Markku Sotarauta (University of Tampere, Finland)
Team:  Prof. R. Boschma, Dr. Tom Broekel (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
Year:  2010
Funding:  European Science Foundation Collaborative Research
Duration:  2008 - 2010
Is Finished:  yes

Details: Globalisation pressures force European regions to enhance their competitiveness. The capability of regions to generate, apply and exploit new knowledge and to innovate has become a key factor of their competitiveness. Often, such competitive advantages do not emerge spontaneously, but are the results of collective actions and initiatives taken by firms, research organizations and governments at various levels. Regions are considered a key level where innovation processes are shaped, coordinated and governed through localized capabilities such as specialized resources, skills, institutions and common social and cultural values.

Concomitantly a more system (cluster and RIS)-oriented regional innovation policy has emerged to construct regional advantage. However, policies for constructing regional advantage cannot be based on one “best practice” model but should reflect the different conditions and problems of the respective regions and RIS. These vary e.g. between types of RIS (such as institutionally “thick” or “thin” RIS; networked or fragmented RIS) as well as the dominating knowledge base of local industries (analytical, synthetic, symbolic). So far very little is known on how policies for constructing regional advantage can work in such different settings. The proposed project aims at filling this gap by comparing policy initiatives in different regional, institutional and sectoral settings.