Emerging innovation modes and (regional) innovation systems in the Czech Republic

Innovation studies literature has put high importance to sectoral and regional patterns of innovations. This research effort is based upon the argument that industries as well as regions represent quite homogeneous entities with respect to firms’ innovation strategies. To the contrary, evolutionary approaches assign more importance to firms’ heterogeneity and hence look for groups of firms characterised by similar innovation strategies cutting across the traditional boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the innovation strategies of Czech firms using explanatory factor analysis and thus first contribute to a better understanding of innovative activities and second, explore whether the identified divergence in innovation patterns can be attributed to the localized conditions or whether it is rather firmspecific. Finally, the paper will discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on territorial systems of innovation, particularly the question how the systems should be delineated, as well as implications for (regional) innovation policy.