Local and Regional Systems of Innovation as Learning Socio-Economies

Abstract

It is becoming widely recognized by policy makers, statistical agencies and economic analysts alike that, in an era of techno-globalism, the innovative capacity of regions is of heightened importance. However, one cannot proceed with the development of a new array of policy-relevant tools or statistical indicators pertaining to sub-national systems of innovation until a more comprehensive and realistic picture of the real economic dynamics of local and regional systems of innovation has been better developed. This book provides such an attempt. Up’ til now, one of the major weaknesses of the very best work that has been done in this area is the emphasis on the various infrastructures (physical, human, communications, etc.) associated with these systems. These features are not unimportant, but they only provide a limited insight into the workings of innovation systems. Moreover, they tend to generate the false impression that “systems” are co-terminous with the administrative contours of these infrastructures.