Policy analysis – ESF/ECRP project

’Constructing Regional Advantage:

Towards State-of-the-art Regional

Innovation System Policy in Europé’

Professor Bjørn Asheim, Deputy Director,

CIRCLE (Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence

in the Learning Economy),

Lund University, Sweden

Presentation, ESF/ECRP project meeting

Utrecht, 11-13 February 2008

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

The key points to remember

Knowledge creation and innovation are strongly shaped by specific knowledge base(s), but take place in all kind of industries

VoC argues that different national institutional frameworks (LMEs vs. CMEs) support different forms of economic activities due to different types of institutional complementarities

No optimal or best way to promote innovation in different industries in a globalising knowledge economy. Innovation policies must be adaptive and context sensitive (customized and fine-tuned)

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Policy challenges: Peripheral and old

industrial regions

Less innovative in comparison to more agglomerated regions

Less R&D intensity and innovation

A less developed knowledge infrastructure (universities and R&D institutions)

Suffering from institutional thinness

Overspecialised in mature industries experiencing decline

Few R&D activities, mature technological trajectories, cognitive lock-in

University and public research oriented at traditional industries / technologies

Source: Tödtling & Trippl (2005)

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Policy challenges: Fragmented

metropolitan and innovative regions

Many and diverse industries/ business services

Lack of dynamic clusters of (local) innovative firms and knowledge spill-overs

R&D departments and headquarters of large firms

Many and high quality universities and public research organisation but weak industry-university links

Regions with cutting edge

technologies and a high level

of R&D

Exposed to new challenges

and competition from

emergent economies

Diversify into new but related

industries

New ways of continuous

innovation support

(Constructing Regional

Advantage - CRA)

Source: Tödtling & Trippl (2005)

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

From competitive to constructed

advantage: Regional Policy Challenges

Imitation and adaptation is not any longer a sufficient strategy for regions. Unique advantages have to be actively constructed

Industrial renewal takes place in-between and beyond existing sectors – need for transcending traditional sector policies (platform policy)

Innovation through combining existing knowledge, technologies and competencies with new generic technologies (IT, biotech (green and white))

How to shape conditions for constructing regional advantage (CRA)?

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

From comparative to constructed

advantage

Comparative advantage: criticized for dismissing the role of technological change and innovation

Competitive advantage: too narrowly institutional oriented by focusing on the creation of endogenous capacity of regions to learn and innovate by a combination of markets and networks

Constructed advantage: acknowledges more the important interplay between industrial dynamics (knowledge bases) and institutional dynamics (i.e. different knowledge bases need different kinds of institutional support) as well as private-public complementarities in policy making by a stronger focus on actors, agencies and governance forms (addressing system failure).

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Need for new typologies

In the globalising knowledge economy knowledge creation and innovation processes have become increasingly complex, diverse and interdependent in recent years. Thus, there is a need to go beyond simple taxonomies and dichotomies:

Pavitt’s taxonomy (1984):

- behaviour of innovating firms

- sources for innovation

Low tech vs. high tech (OECD’s classification of R&D intensity)

Codified – tacit knowledge

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Content of policies for

Constructing Regional Advantage

Proactive and trans-sectoral, platform oriented policies (transcending traditional industry specific policies):

1. Related variety (spillover effects)

2. Differentiated knowledge bases (synthetic, analytical and symbolic)

3. Distributed knowledge networks

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Platform policies – Japan’s new cluster

policy:

Ex: Strengthening policies for advanced

component/materials industries

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Principles of

policies

Types of

Policy

Indirect,

general (framework cond.)

Direct,

general

Direct,

specific

Science policy Basic research in

universities and

research institutes/

(T-H) - IPR policy

Technology

policy

Specific ‘strategic’

technologies and

sectors - public

procurement policy

Innovation

policy

SkatteFUNN

(tax relief) -

Norway

Vinnväxt (T-H)/

VINNOVA –

Sweden (CRA)

TYPOLOGY OF POLICIES

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Regional Innovation Policy: A Typology

Support: Financial

and technical

Behavioural

change: Learning

to innovate

Financial support Mobility schemes

Firm-focused Brokers

Learning work

organisations

Technology Regional

System-focused centres innovation

systems

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

What is Regional Innovation Systems

(RIS) – narrow definition (human capital

strategic):

A RIS is constituted by two sub-systems and the systemic interaction between them (and with non-local actors and agencies):

The knowledge exploration and diffusing sub-system (universities, technical colleges, R&D institutes, technology transfer agencies, business associations and finance institutions)

The knowledge exploitation sub-system (firms in regional clusters as well as their support industries (customers and suppliers))

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

What is a RIS - broad defintion

(social capital strategic):

A system of organisations and institutions supporting

learning and organisational innovation, and their

interactions with local firms (learning regions):

Developmental (creative) learning: competence

building – learning work organisation

Reproductive (adaptive) learning: interactive learning

(user-producer relationships) – inter-firm networks

A market/demand/user driven system mostly

generating incremental innovations

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Different modes of innovation and

forms of work organisation and learning

’How Europe’s Economies Learn. Coordinating Competing Models’ : Different modes of innovation and forms of work organisation

1. STI (Science, Technology, Innovation) – high-tech (science push/supply driven) - LME

2. DUI (Doing, Using, Interacting) – Competence building and organisational innovations (learning work organisation) – market/demand/user driven - CME

Different forms of learning

1. Developmental (creative) learning – the ’logic’ of knowledge exploration – learning work organisation

2. Reproductive (adaptive) learning – the ’logic’ of knowledge exploitation

Bjørn Asheim, 2007

Type of

knowledge Type of RIS

Analytical/

science based

Synthetic/

engineering based

Symbolic/

artistic based

Territorially

embedded

(grassroots RIS)

IDs in Emilia-

Romagna

(machinery)

’Advertising

village’ – Soho

(London)

Networked

(network RIS)

Regional clusters –

regional university

(wireless in Aalborg)

Regional clusters –

regional technical

university

(mechanical in

Baden-Württemberg)

Barcelona as the

design city

Regionalised

national

(dirigiste RIS)

Science parks/

technopolis

(biotech, IT)

Large industrial

complex

(Norwegian oil and

gas related industry)

RIS TYPOLOGY