IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/b/wfo/wstudy/70743.html
   My bibliography  Save this book

Technological Capabilities and the Twin Transition in Europe. Opportunities for Regional Collaboration and Economic Cohesion

Author

Listed:
  • Julia Bachtrögler-Unger
  • Pierre-Alexandre Balland
  • Ron Boschma

    (Utrecht University)

  • Thomas Schwab

    (Bertelsmann Stiftung Gütersloh)

Abstract

Technological capabilities vary substantially across European regions. Combining these diverse sets of capabilities is crucial to develop the technologies necessary to master the green and digital transition. However, collaboration between regions is sparse today. To increase inter-regional cooperation, linkages that spur the development of green and digital technologies must be identified. In this study, we provide an overview of inter-regional collaborations already in place and map new opportunities for these between regions. A special emphasis is placed on potential collaborations between economically leading and lagging regions. Our results provide new impetus for policy designs that strengthen regional innovation capabilities and cohesion across Europe's regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Bachtrögler-Unger & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Thomas Schwab, 2023. "Technological Capabilities and the Twin Transition in Europe. Opportunities for Regional Collaboration and Economic Cohesion," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 70743, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wstudy:70743
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/70743
    File Function: abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miguélez, Ernest & Moreno, Rosina, 2015. "Knowledge flows and the absorptive capacity of regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 833-848.
    2. Artur Santoalha & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Diversifying in green technologies in European regions: does political support matter?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 182-195, February.
    3. Boschma, Ron & Heimeriks, Gaston & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre, 2014. "Scientific knowledge dynamics and relatedness in biotech cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 107-114.
    4. Rachata Muneepeerakul & José Lobo & Shade T Shutters & Andrés Goméz-Liévano & Murad R Qubbaj, 2013. "Urban Economies and Occupation Space: Can They Get “There” from “Here”?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-8, September.
    5. Koen Frenken & Ron A. Boschma, 2007. "A theoretical framework for evolutionary economic geography: industrial dynamics and urban growth as a branching process," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(5), pages 635-649, September.
    6. Ron Boschma & Simona Iammarino, 2009. "Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(3), pages 289-311, July.
    7. Simona Iammarino & Andrés Rodriguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2019. "Regional inequality in Europe: evidence, theory and policy implications," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 273-298.
    8. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.
    9. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Broekel, Tom & Diodato, Dario & Giuliani, Elisa & Hausmann, Ricardo & O'Clery, Neave & Rigby, David, 2022. "Reprint of The new paradigm of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    10. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver of regional diversification: a research agenda," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 351-364, March.
    11. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1993. "Knowledge of the Firm and the Evolutionary Theory of the Multinational Corporation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 24(4), pages 625-645, December.
    12. Deyu Li & Gaston Heimeriks & Floor Alkemade, 2021. "Recombinant invention in solar photovoltaic technology: can geographical proximity bridge technological distance?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 605-616, April.
    13. Mewes, Lars & Broekel, Tom, 2022. "Technological complexity and economic growth of regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    14. Fleming, Lee & Sorenson, Olav, 2001. "Technology as a complex adaptive system: evidence from patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1019-1039, August.
    15. Maskell, Peter & Malmberg, Anders, 1999. "Localised Learning and Industrial Competitiveness," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 23(2), pages 167-185, March.
    16. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    17. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & David Rigby, 2017. "The Geography of Complex Knowledge," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(1), pages 1-23, January.
    18. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2019. "Smart specialization policy in the European Union: relatedness, knowledge complexity and regional diversification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1252-1268, September.
    19. Ron Boschma & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Dieter Franz Kogler, 2015. "Relatedness and technological change in cities: the rise and fall of technological knowledge in US metropolitan areas from 1981 to 2010," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(1), pages 223-250.
    20. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    21. Benjamin Davies & David C. Maré, 2021. "Relatedness, complexity and local growth," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 479-494, March.
    22. Ernest Miguelez & Rosina Moreno, 2018. "Relatedness, external linkages and regional innovation in Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 688-701, May.
    23. Philip McCann & Raquel Ortega-Argil�s, 2015. "Smart Specialization, Regional Growth and Applications to European Union Cohesion Policy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(8), pages 1291-1302, August.
    24. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Broekel, Tom & Diodato, Dario & Giuliani, Elisa & Hausmann, Ricardo & O'Clery, Neave & Rigby, David, 2022. "The new paradigm of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    25. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver behind regional diversification: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1702, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2017.
    26. David L. Rigby, 2015. "Technological Relatedness and Knowledge Space: Entry and Exit of US Cities from Patent Classes," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(11), pages 1922-1937, November.
    27. Ivan Haščič & Mauro Migotto, 2015. "Measuring environmental innovation using patent data," OECD Environment Working Papers 89, OECD Publishing.
    28. Donato Iacobucci & Enrico Guzzini, 2016. "Relatedness and connectivity in technological domains: missing links in S3 design and implementation," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(8), pages 1511-1526, August.
    29. David L. Rigby & Christoph Roesler & Dieter Kogler & Ron Boschma & Pierre-Alexandre Balland, 2022. "Do EU regions benefit from Smart Specialisation principles?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(12), pages 2058-2073, December.
    30. Breschi, Stefano & Lissoni, Francesco & Malerba, Franco, 2003. "Knowledge-relatedness in firm technological diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-87, January.
    31. Pegkas, Panagiotis & Staikouras, Christos & Tsamadias, Constantinos, 2019. "Does research and development expenditure impact innovation? Evidence from the European Union countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 1005-1025.
    32. Tom Broekel & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Martijn Burger & Frank Oort, 2014. "Modeling knowledge networks in economic geography: a discussion of four methods," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(2), pages 423-452, September.
    33. Caviggioli, Federico & Jensen, Paul & Scellato, Giuseppe, 2020. "Highly skilled migrants and technological diversification in the US and Europe," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    34. Anne Nygaard Tanner, 2016. "The emergence of new technology-based industries: the case of fuel cells and its technological relatedness to regional knowledge bases," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 611-635.
    35. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adelia Fatikhova & Fabrizio Fusillo & Sandro Montresor, 2024. "Green-tech transition beyond regional borders: the role of embodied green knowledge flows," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2413, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2024.
    2. Ron Boschma, 2024. "An evolutionary approach to regional studies on global value chains," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(7), pages 1492-1500, July.
    3. Pierre-Alex Balland & Ron Boschma, 2024. "An Evolutionary Approach to Regional Development Traps in European Regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2420, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2024.
    4. Huiwen Gong & Bernhard Truffer, 2024. "Changing from within: the interplay between imaginary, culture and innovation system in regional transformation," GEIST - Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2024(02), GEIST Working Paper Series.

    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. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    2. Duygu Buyukyazici & Leonardo Mazzoni & Massimo Riccaboni & Francesco Serti, 2024. "Workplace skills as regional capabilities: relatedness, complexity and industrial diversification of regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 469-489, March.
    3. Nils Grashof & Stefano Basilico, 2023. "The dark side of green innovation? Green transition and regional inequality in Europe," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2314, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jun 2023.
    4. Pinheiro, Flávio L. & Hartmann, Dominik & Boschma, Ron & Hidalgo, César A., 2022. "The time and frequency of unrelated diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    5. Milene Tessarin & Deyu Li & Sergio Petralia & Ron Boschma, 2023. "The future geography of industries and occupations," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2302, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2023.
    6. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.
    7. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Designing Smart Specialization Policy: relatedness, unrelatedness, or what?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2128, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2021.
    8. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez & Ron Boschma & Andrea Morrison & Xianjia Ye, 2023. "Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: Evidence from EU regions using a relatedness/complexity framework," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2316, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2023.
    9. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2017. "Smart Specialization policy in the EU: Relatedness, Knowledge Complexity and Regional Diversification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1717, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2017.
    10. Ron Boschma, 2024. "An evolutionary approach to regional studies on global value chains," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(7), pages 1492-1500, July.
    11. Mariane Santos Françoso & Ron Boschma & Nicholas Vonortas, 2024. "Regional diversification in Brazil: The role of relatedness and complexity," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), March.
    12. David L. Rigby & Christoph Roesler & Dieter Kogler & Ron Boschma & Pierre-Alexandre Balland, 2019. "Do EU regions benefit from smart specialization?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1931, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2019.
    13. Sándor Juhász & Tom Broekel & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Explaining the dynamics of relatedness: The role of co‐location and complexity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(1), pages 3-21, February.
    14. Ron Boschma, 2018. "The geographical dimension of structural change," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1839, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2018.
    15. Gergő Tóth & Zoltán Elekes & Adam Whittle & Changjun Lee & Dieter F. Kogler, 2022. "Technology Network Structure Conditions the Economic Resilience of Regions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 98(4), pages 355-378, August.
    16. F. Colozza & R. Boschma & A. Morrison & C. Pietrobelli, 2021. "The importance of global value chains and regional capabilities for the economic complexity of EU-regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2139, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2021.
    17. Nicola Cortinovis & Dongmiao Zhang & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Regional diversification and intra-regional wage inequality in the Netherlands," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2022.
    18. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Global Value Chains from an Evolutionary Economic Geography perspective: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2134, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2021.
    19. Maria Tsouri & Ron Boschma, 2024. "The importance of science for the development of new PV technologies in European regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2410, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2024.
    20. Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Towards an evolutionary economic geography research agenda to study migration and innovation," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 529-542.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    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:wfo:wstudy:70743. 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: Florian Mayr (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wifooat.html .

    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.