Regional Innovation Policies: The Role of the Institutional Contexts and Institutional Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Policymakers often put regional innovation policies at the top of their agendas, as they view innovation as a panacea that “provides the foundation for new businesses, new jobs, and productivity growth and is thus, an important driver of economic growth and development”. In the European Union (EU), for instance, the future programming period of the EU Cohesion Policy 2021-27 dedicates the bulk of its budget to promoting a Smarter Europe through the confirmation of the Smart Specialization Strategy. Regional innovation policies have often tended to be shaped by “best practice models,” such as “growing the next Silicon Valley,” derived from well performing regions, which are then, applied indiscriminately to regions around the globe. The Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) and Regional Innovation System (RIS) approaches emphasize, however, that regional innovation policies must be tailored to their regional contexts to be successful. This PhD thesis looks at the role of the institutional contexts and institutional entrepreneurs to better design and implement regional innovation policies.