Changing innovation process models: a chance to break out of path dependency for less developed regions

The aim of this paper is to discover how regions can change innovation process models and whether less developed regions can, in this sense, break out of the negative path dependency. This paper is one of the few to investigate path dependency from a regional rather than from an industry or product perspective. The application of Ward metrics revealed seven innovation process models that can be combined into three groups according to different regional circumstances, in which: (1) knowledge-intensive services are the main carriers of the innovation processes, (2) innovation processes are mostly expressed through manufacturing, and (3) transitions from one type of innovation process into another are the dominant characteristics. Results indicate that there are indeed many examples of path dependency breakthroughs. They occur mostly in the transition group, and could evolve into either one of the other two groups. The research revealed two types of manufacturing regions, namely low-tech and high-tech. It also confirmed that less developed regions fall within the low-tech model called ‘primary-sector-based manufacturing regions’ and face difficulties when phasing into higher-tech models, e.g. only 4% of all transitions are from this model. It is therefore challenging to break out of a negative path dependency. Moreover, the research signified that the reasons for growth are model specific. Therefore, when aiming to achieve an innovation process model transition, regional policies should be tailored accordingly; thus, an evolutionary, staged process of regional policy would be worth researching further.