IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v27y2009i5p815-840.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Patterns of Innovation in EU-25 Regions: A Typology and Policy Recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Mikel Navarro
  • Juan José Gibaja
  • Beñat Bilbao-Osorio

    (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 20 rue André Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France)

  • Ricardo Aguado

    (Basque Institute of Competitiveness, Mundaiz, 50, E-20012 San Sebastian, Spain and University of Deusto-La Comercial, Hermanos Aguirre 2, E-48014 Bilbao, Spain)

Abstract

With this paper we depict a typology of regions, capturing the diversity of regional innovation systems (RISs) across the EU-25. Following the RIS literature, we select twenty-one variables related to the ability of a region to generate and absorb knowledge, and its capacity to transform research and development into innovation and economic growth. On the basis of the results of principal components and cluster analyses, we identify seven types of RIS where the 186 regions group together according to their sectoral specialisation, technological and economic capacity, and performance. By allowing us to identify similar and more advanced regions, the paper facilitates comparisons and benchmarking between similar regions, thus enabling more accurate policy learning. For each group a number of policy recommendations are suggested, contingent on their local specific characteristics. In short, the contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it provides the first RIS typology for the EU-25 regions completed using a large number of variables. Secondly, the conclusions obtained from the analysis may be used to lead policy makers' actions in the field of regional innovation policy in the EU.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikel Navarro & Juan José Gibaja & Beñat Bilbao-Osorio & Ricardo Aguado, 2009. "Patterns of Innovation in EU-25 Regions: A Typology and Policy Recommendations," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 27(5), pages 815-840, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:27:y:2009:i:5:p:815-840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://epc.sagepub.com/content/27/5/815.abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Porter, 2003. "The Economic Performance of Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 549-578.
    2. Beñat Bilbao‐Osorio & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2004. "From R&D to Innovation and Economic Growth in the EU," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 434-455, September.
    3. Rinaldo Evangelista & Simona Iammarino & Valeria Mastrostefano & Alberto Silvani, 2002. "Looking for Regional Systems of Innovation: Evidence from the Italian Innovation Survey," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 173-186.
    4. Ann Markusen, 2003. "Fuzzy Concepts, Scanty Evidence, Policy Distance: The Case for Rigour and Policy Relevance in Critical Regional Studies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 701-717.
    5. Alessandro Muscio, 2004. "From regional innovation systems to local innovation systems: Evidence from Italian industrial districts," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 773-789, December.
    6. Susan Christopherson & Jennifer Clark, 2007. "Power in Firm Networks: What it Means for Regional Innovation Systems," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(9), pages 1223-1236.
    7. Pieter De Bruijn & Arnoud Lagendijk, 2005. "Regional Innovation Systems in the Lisbon strategy," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(8), pages 1153-1172, May.
    8. Parto, Saeed & Doloreux, David, 2004. "Regional Innovation Systems: A Critical Synthesis," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2004-17, United Nations University - INTECH.
    9. Harald Bathelt & Andersand Malmberg & Peter Maskell, 2002. "Clusters and Knowledge Local Buzz, Global Pipelines and the Process of Knowledge Creation," DRUID Working Papers 02-12, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    10. David Doloreux, 2004. "Regional Innovation Systems in Canada: A Comparative Study," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(5), pages 479-492.
    11. Philip Cooke & Clare Davies & Rob Wilson, 2002. "Innovation Advantages of Cities: From Knowledge to Equity in Five Basic Steps," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 233-250, March.
    12. Allen J. Scott & Michael Storper, 2007. "Regions, Globalization, Development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(sup1), pages 191-205.
    13. Riccardo Crescenzi & Andrés Rodriguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2007. "The territorial dynamics of innovation: a Europe-United States comparative analysis," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(6), pages 673-709, November.
    14. Mikel Navarro Arancegui, 2009. "Los sistemas regionales de innovación. Una revisión crítica," EKONOMIAZ. Revista vasca de Economía, Gobierno Vasco / Eusko Jaurlaritza / Basque Government, vol. 70(01), pages 25-59.
    15. Oughton, Christine & Landabaso, Mikel & Morgan, Kevin, 2002. "The Regional Innovation Paradox: Innovation Policy and Industrial Policy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 97-110, January.
    16. Frank Moulaert & Farid Sekia, 2003. "Territorial Innovation Models: A Critical Survey," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 289-302.
    17. Howells, Jeremy, 2005. "Innovation and regional economic development: A matter of perspective?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1220-1234, October.
    18. Todtling, Franz & Trippl, Michaela, 2005. "One size fits all?: Towards a differentiated regional innovation policy approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1203-1219, October.
    19. Kevin Morgan, 2004. "The exaggerated death of geography: learning, proximity and territorial innovation systems," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 3-21, January.
    20. Niosi, Jorge, 2002. "National systems of innovations are "x-efficient" (and x-effective): Why some are slow learners," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 291-302, February.
    21. Andersson, Martin & Karlsson, Charlie, 2004. "Regional Innovation Systems in Small & Medium-Sized Regions A Critical Review & Assessment," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 10, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hajek, Petr & Henriques, Roberto & Hajkova, Veronika, 2014. "Visualising components of regional innovation systems using self-organizing maps—Evidence from European regions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 197-214.
    2. Reza Naghizadeh & Shaban Elahi & Manoochehr Manteghi & Sepehr Ghazinoory & Marina Ranga, 2015. "Through the magnifying glass: an analysis of regional innovation models based on co-word and meta-synthesis methods," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 2481-2505, November.
    3. Elvira Uyarra, 2010. "What is evolutionary about ‘regional systems of innovation’? Implications for regional policy," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 115-137, January.
    4. Mikel Navarro Arancegui & Juan José Gibaja Martíns, 2009. "Las tipologías en los sistemas regionales de innovación. El caso de España," EKONOMIAZ. Revista vasca de Economía, Gobierno Vasco / Eusko Jaurlaritza / Basque Government, vol. 70(01), pages 240-281.
    5. Igone Porto & Jose Ramón Otegi, 2014. "ROSIS: A Regional Open Sectoral Innovation System," ERSA conference papers ersa14p389, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Niembro, Andrés, 2017. "Hacia una primera tipología de los sistemas regionales de innovación en Argentina," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 38, pages 117-149.
    7. Borsi, Balázs & Bajmócy, Zoltán, 2009. "Kvantitatív leszakadás, kvalitatív felzárkózás?. A hazai regionális innovációpolitika kihívásai [Quantitative lag, qualitative catch-up?. The challenges for this countrys regional innovation policy," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 933-954.
    8. David Doloreux & Saeed Parto, 2004. "Regional Innovation Systems: Current Discourse and Challenges for Future Research," ERSA conference papers ersa04p56, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Doloreux, David & Parto, Saeed, 2005. "Regional innovation systems: Current discourse and unresolved issues," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 133-153.
    10. Robert Huggins & Hiro Izushi, 2009. "Regional Benchmarking in a Global Context: Knowledge, Competitiveness, and Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 23(4), pages 275-293, November.
    11. Christophe Carrincazeaux & Frederic Gaschet, 2015. "Regional Innovation Systems and Economic Performance: Between Regions and Nations," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 262-291, February.
    12. Bajmócy, Zoltán & Vas, Zsófia, 2012. "Az innovációs rendszerek 25 éve. Szakirodalmi áttekintés evolúciós közgazdaságtani megközelítésben [25 years of innovation systems. A literature review from the angle of evolutionary economics]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1233-1256.
    13. Pedro Marques & Kevin Morgan, 2021. "Innovation without Regional Development? The Complex Interplay of Innovation, Institutions, and Development," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 97(5), pages 475-496, October.
    14. Luisa Gagliardi & Simona Iammarino, 2017. "Innovation in risky markets. Multinational and domestic firms in the UK regions," Working Papers 37, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Mar 2017.
    15. Iammarino, Simona & McCann, Philip, 2006. "The structure and evolution of industrial clusters: Transactions, technology and knowledge spillovers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1018-1036, September.
    16. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Callum Wilkie, 2016. "Putting China in perspective: a comparative exploration of the ascent of the Chinese knowledge economy," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 9(3), pages 479-497.
    17. Charlie Karlsson & Gunther Maier & Michaela Trippl & Iulia Siedschlag & Robert Owen & Gavin Murphy, 2008. "ICT Diffusion, Innovation Systems, Globalisation and Regional Economic Dynamics: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Papers WP233, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    18. Riccardo Crescenzi & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2013. "R&D, Socio-Economic Conditions, and Regional Innovation in the U.S," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 287-320, June.
    19. Ron Boschma, 2014. "Constructing Regional Advantage and Smart Specialisation: Comparison of Two European Policy Concepts," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 51-68.
    20. Grillitsch, Markus, 2014. "Institutional Change and Economic Evolution in Regions," Papers in Innovation Studies 2014/1, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:27:y:2009:i:5:p:815-840. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.