Constructing knowledge-based regional advantage: implications for regional innovation policy

A focus on constructing regional advantage requires an ‘unpacking’ of what makes territorial agglomerations important for innovation and competitiveness by disclosing and revealing the contingencies, particularities and specificities of the various contexts and environments where knowledge creation, innovation and entrepreneurship take place. In order to achieve more effective regional innovation policy, this paper presents and discusses three dimensions along which such unpacking can take place. These dimensions refer to (1) specific industrial knowledge bases, (2) globally distributed knowledge networks and (3) different territorial competence bases.