Birkbeck, University of London
Friday 4th December 2015 10 – 5pm
Studies have shown that places grow when they generate new firms and when new industries emerge and grow as clusters evolve (Mohr and Garnsey 2010, Trippl and Todtling 2008, Fritsch 2014). Other studies have focused on the role of firm level innovation (see for example Archibugi et al. 2012) and of inter-organizational knowledge exchange within and outside the region (Trippl et al., 2009; Cooke, 2007; Asheim et al., 2011; Boschma and Frenken, 2011; Dettman et al., 2012) in sustaining growth. Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship lie at the heart of policy-making in many regions, and is central to the ‘smart-specialisation’ agenda of the EU, whereby policy makers are required to articulate a theory of expected change in their local and regional context (Foray et al., 2012). However, a dilemma for policy makers remains that innovative and entrepreneurial regions occur independently of politics (Fritsch and Storey 2014). Regions with high levels of entrepreneurship and innovation are expected to continue to experience the same high levels in the future, although evidence suggests that this is by no means guaranteed. Therefore, how can less successful regions be transformed into hubs of entrepreneurship and innovation, and how can successful regions sustain their high levels of performance? Moreover, effective policy-making needs to be built on strong evidence and formative evaluation in order to be able to assess the results of intervention.
Invited presentations will be followed by a general discussion on how regions can become entrepreneurship and innovation hubs. Possible areas of focus include:
- Regional innovation policy in theory e.g. regional innovation systems, business and innovation eco-systems, open innovation
- Stakeholder theories in policy-making, leadership and capacity building through collaboration
- Policies for innovation networks in theory and practice (firms, universities and global players)
- Anchor firms and anchor institutions
- Applying open innovation and smart specialisation principles in regional policy
- Evidence: outcome indicators plus monitoring and evaluation and the need for targets. Problems identifying and measuring effects, and impossibility of capturing things by metrics
- Building innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities in the region through skills development, training and financing.
Contacts:
- Helen Lawton Smith h.lawton-smith@bbk.ac.uk
- Federica Rossi f.rossi@bbk.ac.uk
- Marion Frenz m.frenz@bbk.ac.uk
- Ning Baines nsrikasem@yahoo.com
