Transformation of regional innovation systems: From old legacies to new development paths

Regional Innovation Systems (RISs) are generally seen to exhibit high degrees of inertia, since they are shaped by existing industry structures, technology paths and institutions. Still, in the medium and long run considerable changes of RISs can be observed, often reaching beyond the dominant development paths. The chapter helps to understand how such shifts are taking place. It identifies key actors and processes in new path creation and examines to what extent these are related to past economic and institutional structures. Based on a discussion of relevant theories and a critical literature review a conceptual frame and empirical examples of such transformations are presented.