Regional Innovation Systems: The Role of Governance in a Globalized World

The first edition of Regional Innovation Systems introduced a newly developed theoretical and empirical construct as a means of planning and analysing industrial development on a regional scale. Since 1995, when the first edition was commissioned, there has been a worldwide innovation-led boom and subsequent slump, meaning enormous change has occurred in regional economies. The new edition registers this change and provides an interesting test of the robustness of the original arguments in the book. Not least, more industrial policy making is influenced by the RIS analysis, and many national and regional governments have adopted RIS approaches, along with related instruments like promotion of industry clusters, academic entrepreneurship, regional venture capital and science-led development strategies. Set within a broadly evolutionary economics perspective, accounts are given of the system interactions occurring between firms and the innovation support infrastructure. Cases are drawn worldwide from Asia, North America and Europe and include a new case study on Slovenia.