Welcome to Regional Innovation!

A place for regional innovation? The former Opel plant in Bochum-Laer.

„Models that depict innovation as a smooth, well-behaved linear process badly misspecify the nature and direction of the causal factors at work. Innovation is complex, uncertain, somewhat disorderly, and subject to changes of many sorts. Innovation is also difficult to measure and demands close coordination of adequate technical knowledge and excellent market judgment in order to satisfy economic, technological, and other types of constraints-all simultaneously. The process of innovation must be viewed as a series of changes in a complete system not only of hardware, but also of market environment, production facilities and knowledge, and the social contexts of the innovation organization“ (Kline & Rosenberg,1986).

With above quote in mind we come think that regions also need renewal and change through innovation. But what kind innovation could that be? Regional innovation and transformation confront state actors, regional associations and companies with a sophisticated challenge, as exemplified by structural change in the Ruhr area. The teaching and learning contents presented here aim to support the lecturer’s work conveying a better understanding of regional innovation and its supporting and hindering mechanisms. Students will gain a deeper insight into theoretical frameworks of regional innovation systems, regional dynamics and the underlying institutional mechanisms. They learn to understand regions as ecosystems in which universities and/or institutional entrepreneurs play a central role in regional change.
The module encourages students to identify their own projects, to develop theoretical and methodological foundations, and to collect and evaluate own data. Following, they can make concrete proposals for further enhancing competitiveness of the Ruhr Area or another region and become experts in regional knowledge transfer.
 

Kline, S.J. & Rosenberg, N.: An Overview of Innovation. Jahr: 1986. In: Rosenberg, N. (ed.) – Studies on Science (S. 173–203).                    https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814273596_0009

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