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Politikk for innovative regioner

Politikk for innovative regioner bidrar til en kunnskapsbasert debatt om innovasjonspolitikken, spesielt den regionaliserte delen av politikken. Boken tilbyr kunnskap om mange sider ved norsk innovasjonspolitikk, om forutsetninger for innovasjon og om hvordan innovasjoner foregår i ulike deler av næringslivet. Fordi innovasjon og næringsutvikling gjerne ter seg som regionale prosesser, er forfatterne opptatt av at innovasjonspolitikken må tilpasses ulike regionale forhold i næringslivet og i det sosio-kulturelle grunnlaget. Samtidig må politikken legge til rette for at næringslivet kan utnytte globale kunnskapskoblinger.

Politikk for innovative regioner har en bred forståelse av innovasjon, som betyr at innovasjonspolitikken må omfatte langt mer enn å støtte forsknings- og utviklingsaktiviteter. Den må ikke minst bidra til å koble eksisterende og beslektet kunnskap som grunnlag for framvekst av nye næringer. Forfatterne er opptatt av at støtte til aktører som gründere og innovative bedrifter må spille sammen med utvikling og tilpasninger i innovasjonssystemer.

Boken er skrevet for studenter og fagfolk som er opptatt av innovasjon og regional nærings- og samfunnsutvikling.

"Boka gir innsiktsfulle bidrag på feltet og til debattene om innovasjonspolitikk og mellomnivåets rolle og utfordringer i denne sammenheng. Det argumenteres for at det regionale nivået i forvaltningen har svært viktige roller å spille i innovasjonspolitikken i ulike deler av landet, men at dette hemmes av sektoriseringen og nasjonale føringer."

Innovation Drivers and Regional Innovation Strategies

In the global economy, regional development and innovation are increasingly an imperative to increase the competitive edge of EU economies. While European regions are different in many ways, the innovation capacity of regions, clusters and firms is what makes them capable of building up new and diversified pathways for sustainable growth. For this reason, Innovation Drivers and Regional Innovation Strategies looks to analyze different knowledge drivers (e.g. entrepreneurial or policy-orientation; scientific and practice-based knowledge modes; institutional innovation support) that influence the innovative and competitive capacity of regions, clusters and firms in Europe. The aim of this volume is to develop an in-depth understanding of these drivers and their implications for the way in which regional and cluster growth may be upgraded.

Innovation Drivers and Regional Innovation Strategies examines the construction of new innovation pathways for regions and clusters in different geographical contexts. The main themes are cluster evolution, regional innovation systems and business innovation modes and capabilities. The objectives are centred on exploring the logic and mechanisms that can be activated as a means to promote innovation and competitiveness within regions and, within these, across and within firms. Aimed at researchers and academics in the field, this is a thoughtful and innovative new volume that helps define the academic debate.

The Rise of Regionalism

During the past 40 years, regions have become increasingly important in Western Europe both as units of government and as sources for political mobilization.

This book examines why regional identities are stronger in some regions than in others, and why regional elites attempt to mobilize the public on a regionalist agenda at certain points in time. The author develops a model that explains change across space as well as time and provides a comprehensive discussion of the causes of regionalism. It focuses on endogenous developments in the regions and on change across time in the economic and political landscapes of the regions. Using a quantitative study of 212 Western European regions, which examine whether regionalism is related to cultural, economic and political characteristics of the regions, the book builds a model of the causes of regionalism. The issues are further explored through case studies on Scotland (UK) and Rogaland (Norway).

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political and social sciences, especially those with an interest in regions, regionalism and regional nationalism, Scottish politics, Norwegian politics, territorial identities and territorial politics.

Reviews of The Rise of Regionalism

"What are the causes of regionalism? Why is regionalism stronger in certain regions than in others? Why is regionalism stronger in certain periods than in others? This new book by Rune Dahl Fitjar, though not providing definitive answers to all these questions, constitutes a remarkable step in that direction. [...] This book represents a compelling reading not only for scholars of regionalism, but will also be of interest to all those working on Western European politics."
"Whereas much of [the] literature is concerned with regionalization [...], the phenomenon itself rarely serves as dependent variable. With his book, the author contributes to filling in this existing gap and develops a theoretical model that can explain different levels of regionalism. [...] The book provides a valuable contribution for researchers interested in regionalism."
"All in all, this book is both theoretically and empirically well informed and a good source of reference for those who are interested in regionalism, federalism and comparative regionalism."

På Norsk

"Rune Dahl Fitjar er ikkje snauare enn at han samanliknar utviklinga av regionalismen i Skottland og Rogaland."
"Fitjar viser til at Norge er mindre regionalisert enn andre land i Europa. [...] Som i Europa er oppmerksomheten om regionene også her hos oss, mye større enn før."