Abstract
The analysis of the importance of different types of regional innovation
systems must take place within a context of the actual knowledge
base of various industries in the economy, as the innovation processes
of firms are strongly shaped by their specific knowledge base. In
this paper, we shall distinguish between two types of knowledge base:
analytical and synthetic. These types indicate different mixes of
tacit and codified knowledge, codification possibilities and limits,
qualifications and skills, required organisations and institutions
involved, as well as specific competitive challenges from a globalising
economy, which have different implications for different sectors
of industry, and, thus, for the kind of innovation support needed.
The traditional constellation of industrial clusters surrounded by
innovation supporting organisations, constituting a regional innovation
system, is nearly always to be found in contexts of industries with
a synthetic knowledge base (e.g. engineering-based industries), while
the existence of regional innovation systems as an integral part
of a cluster will normally be the case of industries-based on an
analytical knowledge base (e.g. science-based industries, such as
IT and bio-tech). In the discussion of different types of regional
innovation systems five empirical illustrations from a Nordic comparative
project on SMEs and regional innovation systems will be used: the
furniture industry in Salling, Denmark; the wireless communication
industry in North Jutland, Denmark; the functional food industry
in Scania, Sweden; the food industry in Rogaland, Norway and the
electronics industry in Horten, Norway. We argue that in terms of
innovation policy the regional level often provides a grounded approach
embedded in networks of actors acknowledging the importance of the
knowledge base of an industry.
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