Combining knowledge bases for system innovation in regions: Insights from an East German case study

A growing number of economic geography scholars have discussed the spatial dimensions of sustainability innovation in socio-technical systems to overcome societal, economic, and ecological problems. This research usually focuses on businesses in the knowledge economy and success factors. However, sustainability innovation involves the collaboration of upstreaming process stages and open innovation processes with a broad range of different actors. Innovation intermediaries, such as universities and research institutes, are needed to support and accelerate the transfer of knowledge. Nevertheless, little is known about the influence of the cognitive and institutional diversity of actors on the configuration of knowledge bases required for sustainability innovation. This article presents insights from 16 semi-structured expert interviews conducted in a regional innovation system (RIS) in East Germany. We investigate four innovation intermediaries in the region of Eberswalde in cooperation with the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. The analytical framework links the concept of differentiated knowledge bases to sustainability transitions and sustainability-oriented knowledge transfer. Our results show that, first, in the Eberswalde region, the relevant actors involved in regional knowledge transfer predominantly focus on synthetic knowledge bases, such as experience-based knowledge of local area settings. Second, symbolic knowledge bases are crucial and often prerequisites for intermediary organizations to recombine knowledge bases and support the capability to innovate in regional knowledge transfer. Symbolic knowledge contains, in particular, the ability to translate scientific findings to a language that can be understood by the various actors in knowledge transfer. Third, organizational innovation complements social innovation to support innovation on a systemic level and foster change processes.