Regional technological systems in transition: Dynamics of relatedness and techno-economic matches in China

Based on a newly compiled set of Chinese data, this paper puts established assump-tions on the role of technological variety in perspective. It does so from two main an-gles. First, by documenting whether, in China, technological variety has played a simi-lar role for regional development as in Western economies. Second, by exploring how, more recently, this may change as China transitions towards an innovation driven economy. In summary, its findings suggest that, while technological variety has indeed so far mattered differently for China's regional development, more recently, first traces of systemic change can be identified in the both evolution of related variety and its emerging impact on aspects of regional development.