SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Regional innovation systems: theory, empirics and policy, Regional Studies. Interest in regional innovation systems has grown significantly over the past three decades driven partly by advances in theoretical analysis, partly by the growing interest in innovation as a source of competitive advantage, and partly by the need for new policies to address regional inequalities and divergence. This article explores the elements and characteristics that exemplify the regional innovation systems approach. It provides an appraisal and synthesis of the regional innovation systems paradigm and aims to shed light on a number of areas where theoretical, empirical and policy-based questions remain unanswered. It outlines and assesses the major strands in recent theoretical and empirical debates and discusses how they might be developed to contribute to the further advancement of the regional innovation systems literature. Three interrelated questions form the key themes around which the article is structured. The first concerns the very nature of the system itself. The second concerns the boundaries of industrial districts, clusters and regional innovation systems, and the role of cognitive frontiers, knowledge transfer and learning. The third relates to the central role of knowledge and learning in clusters and regional innovation systems and in particular to the role and functioning of the labour market. These three cross-cutting themes separately and collectively provide new theoretical, empirical and policy insights; they also raise other questions which are intended to stimulate much future research.