Abstract
ABSTRACT How do sparsely populated regions innovate in green policies? What enables or limits such innovation? The green policy literature often focuses on core regions, while territorial innovation models have long ignored regional state innovation. In this article we examine the drivers of public sector innovation in green policies in peripheral regions, often considered unequipped. The data come from the case study of Finnish Lapland's Smart Specialisation Strategy in relation to promoting a forest-based bioeconomy. In a context where climate change has become a major global challenge, and sustainable development an additional responsibility for local and regional governments, this article contributes to understanding the rationales for innovation in green policies from a regional perspective. Drawing from institutional economic geography, we argue that top-down approaches (Smart Specialisation) combined with scale and place-specificity (personal connections, environmental fragility, political will and natural resources endowments) play an important role in driving the governments of sparsely populated regions to innovate when translating and implementing green policies.
Highlights
The accelerating pace of socio-technical changes and the climate crisis are making public sector innovation (PSI) relevant, because it is part of the toolset for public bodies to be more prepared to achieve technological diversification
Drawing from institutional economic geography, we argue that top-down approaches (Smart Specialisation) combined with scale and place-specificity play an important role in driving the governments of sparsely populated regions to innovate when translating and implementing green policies
Using qualitative data that include interviews, participant observation and the analysis of secondary data, and drawing from the theoretical contributions of institutional economic geography, we argue that regional innovation policies (Smart Specialisation), combined with place-specificity, play an important role in driving regions’ governments to innovate when translating and implementing green policies
Summary
The accelerating pace of socio-technical changes and the climate crisis are making public sector innovation (PSI) relevant, because it is part of the toolset for public bodies to be more prepared to achieve technological diversification. In relation to green policies, it is expected that the regional governments find new forms of collaboration and action, making place leadership crucial to integrate and coordinate incumbent actors (Sotarauta & Suvinen, 2019) In this sense, PSI plays a significant role in designing and delivering regional development and green policies, and certainly regional innovation policies such as Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), which dominates regional economic development and innovation policies in Europe (Pugh, 2018). Institutional thickness emerged to explain local economic embeddedness for innovation in a global context (Amin & Thrift, 1994) through four factors: a strong organizational presence, which includes the number and diversity of organizations representing the range of actors and sectors with interest in the region These can include universities, firms, unions and government bodies. By analysing the structure of domination, governments can identify smaller economic actors that have potential but lower collective action capacities to influence the S3 agenda
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