A focus on constructing regional advantage requires an ‘unpacking’ of what makes territorial agglomerations important for innovation and growth by disclosing and revealing the contingencies, particularities and specificities of the various contexts and environments where knowledge creation,...

The development of science parks constitutes an interesting example of policy to enhance the technology-based development of a region. These parks, it is argued, contribute to fostering technological innovation and transfer and stimulating the growth of high-level economic activities. This...

Research in regional growth has been characterised by two trends in recent years. The first is that creativity and talents are seen as parameters for regional growth. The creative class approach has argued that competition for talents has increased as innovation becomes crucial for maintaining...

This paper examines the changing roles of universities against current policy and institutional landscapes in Japan, given recent university reforms, the concentration of resources to the ‘elite’ institutions, and ‘regionalisation’ of science and innovation policies. The variety of forms...

It is widely accepted that firms in peripheral regions benefit to a lesser extent from local knowledge spillovers than firms located in agglomerations or industrial clusters. This paper investigates the extent to which innovative firms in peripheral regions compensate for the lack of access to...

The aim of this working paper is to contribute to the debate on how to identify regions with less developed research and innovation systems. We look at both conceptual and empirical approaches that figure prominently in scholarly work on regional innovation systems. Based on a critical review...

This paper discusses the role of capabilities and competitiveness for the economic growth of nations. The capability concept is commonly used in analyses of firms, however, as this paper shows, it may also be used at the level of nations. Capabilities at the national level may be defined broadly...

The literature on geography of innovation suggests that innovation outcomes depend on the type of knowledge base employed by firms. While knowledge bases are distinct categories with regards to the nature and the rational of knowledge creation, existing studies also stress that innovation...

This paper argues that obstruction of agency, intention and interest is a weakness in institutional studies in geography. There is a need to systematically anchor a role for agency in institutionally oriented combinatorial knowledge dynamics studies, and thus to reach beyond snapshots of...

According to the Innovation Union Scoreboard, published by the European Commission every year, Sweden has been, and still is, an innovation leader within the EU and one of the most innovative countries in Europe. In the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2014 (European Union, 2014: 5), Sweden has the...