No 2024/13 Twenty years of regional innovation studies

From local-global to agency-structure

Abstract

The chapter discusses the theoretical reorientation in economic geography over the last twenty years from a focus on structures, represented by regional innovation systems, to addressing the role of human agency in regional economic development, and reflects on what the two approaches can contribute to achieving sustainable regional restructuring. We are doing this by focusing on two articles – published in 2002 and 2022 - representing the two approaches. The 2002 article discusses the role of place-specific, local resources and external knowledge in strengthening the competitiveness and innovativeness of firms and regions. This perspective is still relevant in analyses and designs of regional innovation policies. However, a realisation of the shortcomings of a structural approach to explaining the variations of regional development outcomes in different types of regions, has led to a more explicit focus on the importance of change agency in regional change processes, as articulated in the 2022 article.