Society, Technology, and Region: Contributions from the Social Study of Technology to Economic Geography

Abstract

Recent debates in economic geography have emphasized the need for a more explicit analysis of innovation processes at a sectoral or technological level. A great deal of attention has furthermore been devoted to connect the internal disciplinary debate with the wider discourse of the social sciences that deal with economic development in general and with the role of innovation in particular. In the present paper I argue that the field of the social study of technology (SST) can inspire research in economic geography in important respects: SST research has an explicit focus on the genesis of sociotechnical configurations; it has developed sector-related and technology-related multilevel theories of sociotechnical change; it has a strong emphasis on innovation dynamics and sector transformations; and finally, it has a focus on strategic planning in multiactor settings and thus favors foresight and participatory planning approaches in science, technology, and innovation policy. SST-inspired research could thus be an interesting partner for those approaches within economic geography that share some ontological starting positions with regard to actors, the role of institutions, and a revolutionary and multilevel analysis of sociotechnical transformation processes.