This paper addressed the need for research regarding the role of associations in innovation systems. As defined here, the term association embraces not only organisations like business associations, but all actors who associate to pursue joint objectives and positively influence their (regional)...

[Summary and Discussion] In summary, our findings suggest that the current efforts towards fulfilling the RIS3 ex-ante conditionalities are neither likely to trigger an immediate revolution in European regions' approaches towards innovation policy nor will they put an immediate or even rapid end...

[Introduction] The notion of 'smart specialisation' is set to become an important policy rationale in the upcoming structural funding period 2014-2020. Although the original academic concept of this policy approach was sectorally oriented and rooted in the analysis of the EU-US productivity gap...

The EU wide differences in regional autonomy that we can observe today are based on comparatively recent developments which have occurred in parallel in a number of nations. In general, we found that the conception of a relevant quantitative reference framework for future research is not an easy...

In recent years, the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S³) has quickly developed from an academic concept into a policy trend with substantial momentum and widespread practical implications. In some recent publications of the concept's main proponents, the S³ approach is described as a good...

Over the course of the last decade, increasing political emphasis has been placed on the 'third role' of universities and universities of applied sciences in German higher education policy, i.e. to these institutions socio-economic contribution their regional environment. Against this background...

The empirical sub-sections of this article have shown that the both production and technology oriented clusters are a very diverse and regionally embedded phenomenon. Within this context, the observed diversity of political strategies and support measures whose ultimate goal is to 'generate...

As next to all aspects of research are becoming internationalised at a more and more rapid pace the need for the creation of transnational research infrastructures can no longer be seen as limited to certain fields of natural sciences. Against the background, new policies have been launched with...

In den letzten Jahren wurden Regionen, verstanden als räumliche Einheiten unterschiedlicher Größen innerhalb eines Landes, durch das Aufgreifen regionaler Entwicklungskonzepte, die Thematisierung von Innovationsnetzwerken sowie durch die Popularisierung des Cluster-Ansatzes zunehmend...

Agricultural innovations are meant to master global challenges such as climate change. However, they are often subject to highly controversial societal debates, such as in the case of genetic engineering or certain forms of animal production. This paper provides insight in the extent to which...