Regional innovation governance and place-based policies: design, implementation and implications

ABSTRACT Regions need to tailor their own place-based policies because there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ regional innovation policy framework. Each region is characterized by different institutional capacities related to political, economic and social contexts enabling or constraining the design and implementation of place-based policies. This paper uses an instrumental-use multiple case study approach to explore the design and implementation of place-based policies within the institutional arrangements of four regional innovation agencies (RIAs) established in three different regional contexts inside and outside the European Union: one in the Brainport region (the Netherlands), two in the Basque Country (Spain) and one in Medellín (Colombia). In analyzing the RIAs’ similarities and differences, this paper explores the complexity of designing and implementing place-based innovation policies in different regional innovation systems (RISs) while noting important policy implications for regional innovation governance and institutional arrangements to upgrade RIS in a more systematic manner