Interregional Collaboration and the Internationalisation of Place-Based Innovation Policy

Despite recognition that interregional and international linkages promote the innovative capacity of regions, their role in regional innovation policy has received limited academic attention, resulting in challenges on how to incorporate them effectively into policy. We argue that interregional linkages are not generic in nature but shaped by capabilities that are place- and activity-specific. This is clearly shown in the strengths and weaknesses in three types of regional collaborations – foreign direct investment, co-invention, and co-publication – that we identified across five EU regions that prioritized automotives in their regional smart specialisation strategies. Using mixed-methods, we show that regions differ in the intensity and nature of interregional linkages, depending on their capabilities. Regions with a strong knowledge base in automotives manage to build effectively a range of strong connections that allow them to tap into complementary capabilities in other regions that support innovation and upgrading, in contrast to regions with a weak absorptive capacity. Consequently, interregional linkages can only be effectively integrated into innovation policies when they are place-based and activity-specific. We argue that, in the absence of targeted incentives to foster interregional connectivity, a substantial share of its potential for local innovation and regional upgrading remains untapped.