Polytechnics are newcomers in companies' regional innovation environments in Finland. Particularly in regions with no university of their own or with only few knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) providers, they may become, and in some cases already are, important providers of...

This is an introduction to the special issue on service competitiveness and cohesion, based on the outcomes of the XVII RESER Conference in Tampere, Finland, 13--15 September 2007. It shows the rich diversity of research across Europe and the rest of the world but more importantly, such research...