From regional innovation systems to regions as innovation policy spaces

The regional systems of innovation concept is well established in academic and practitioner discourses about innovation and economic development. As with the innovation systems approach more generally, the use of the concept has expanded significantly from its initial analytical purpose and has been extensively used to inform policy making. The paper identifies a number of dangers associated with the use of RIS as a normative concept and proposes that a better understanding of the roles regions play as policy and implementation spaces may lead to a more careful and nuanced application of the concept in the future.