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Innovative and Sustainable Regions: Key themes summary all lectures
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L1: Innovative and sustainable regionsThree key dimensions of sustainability:
- Social
- Environmental
- economic
Resilience is often seen as fourth dimension
There are three key theories which are important to understand innovative and sustainable
regions: Neoclassical, institutional and evolutionary. Short explanation chronologically:
Phase 1 (since 1970): Neoclassical theory.
- Theme: facilitate trade and mobility, unrestricted market functioning, strengthening the
knowledge economy.
- Innovation is a linear process, starting at investing in R&D.
- Economic sustainability is key, focus lies on economic growth to create more jobs which
will again promote economic sustainability.
- People based policy: investing in human capital is key for innovation, which will lead to
economic growth. All barriers that could halt the innovation process need to be
eliminated.
Example of this policy in practice: Lisbon strategy. The EU set a bar at 3% of GDP to be
invested in innovation, if Europe was to stay competitive with the US. This quotum was set for
all countries. Later, this strategy was criticized for its one size fits all policy, which leads to:
Phase 2 (since 1990): institutional theory
Critique on neoclassical theory, institutional says innovation is more than firms investing in R&D,
but rather a multi-actor network including venture capitalists, governments and collaboration.
This all makes the innovation process complex instead of linear.
- Theme: high quality institutions, infrastructure and collaboration leads to innovation and
regional development.
- Economic sustainability is still key, along with social sustainability.
- Policy made to stimulate regional collaboration and fix systemic failures
Along with a new theory, the European innovation scoreboard was transformed into a regional
innovation index -> accounts for regional variation, making it easier to make region specific
policies. Policies in Drenthe should be different than in Amsterdam, for example.
Phase 3 (since 2000): evolutionary economics
- Theme: ability to diversify, upgrade economic profile, create opportunities over time and
co-evolution.
- Innovation is based on relatedness, history and knowledge base.
- All three dimensions of sustainability are touched on: interest for equality and divergence
(social) and green transition (environment)
- Smart specialization policies: policies differ per region due to path dependency. Policy
makers should strategize based on existing strengths, but also ability to diversify.
, There is a lot of inequality between European regions, which is not seeming to fade over time,
but rather becoming more problematic -> divergence. This also causes discontent and social
unrest in lagging regions. This gives policy makers an economic and social challenge.
Idea was, investing in leading regions would spill over to lagging regions (trickle down effect).
The opposite happened. High economic regions saw their population grow, while low economic
regions saw theirs shrink. This is when neoclassical ideas were tossed and it became clear that
knowledge does not flow as easily as neoclassicists think, think of tacit knowledge for example.
Current phase (since 2010) combination of institutional and evolutionary theories (+ new
transition theories)
- Theme: regional development that accounts for all dimensions of sustainability through
innovation
- Focus lies on sustainable innovation, innovation can also come from actors that are not
firms.
- All forms of data and methods use which help capture important elements
- Smart specialization policies are used for sustainability, giving it direction and ambition.
Mission driven innovation also prominent: working towards specific goals, eg SDG’s
L2: Introduction to sustainability transitions
What is a sustainability transition? Going from a non desirable state, to a better (sustainable)
one. This can be energy transition (fossil fuels -> reusable fuels), but also transportation (less
car dependency). These are the most prominent forms, but there are many others.
Why does space and place matter when talking about these transitions? Every location is
different so a one size fits all recipe is not applicable to all spaces. This is why it is important to
understand why things happen where they do. Additionally, spatial locations are intertwined with
one another.
Evolutionary studies form the foundation for theories on transition. However, the role of agents
and institutions is a blind spot within EEG.
Key concepts covered in the literature:
- Latecomer: an actor that has not started something others have started. This term is
criticized for its Western ‘catch up’ view.
- Leapfrogging: process whereby a latecomer skips a transition phase and jumps to the
newest technology stage, following a technological breakthrough.
- Watch out for terms like ‘green economy’. Vague terms like these can often be
misleading and are often subject to greenwashing.
- Agency: ability to influence situations. Having the space to act, and sometimes
simultaneously promoting your own agenda.
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