Place-based multi-system innovation: the case of the twin transition technologies in European regions

There is increasing interest in studying how multi-system innovation (MSI) emerge across regions. Understanding it requires attention to the co-evolutionary dynamics among systems and to their spatial co-location. Integrating insights from the Sustainability Transition and Evolutionary Economic Geography literatures, a framework is proposed to study the critical emergence of innovation at the intersection of digital and green technologies, as outlined in the European twin transition agenda. Despite numerous studies, it remains unclear how specific components and capabilities recombine within regions to support the emergence of twin technologies. This framework is explored empirically in a study of 271 European NUTS-2 regions, using a random forest classification model to identify which configurations of regional technological trajectories most strongly support the emergence of twin technologies during the period 2000-2021. Using patent data, the results show that digital and green follow different trajectories into twin regional specialisation. Digital technologies contribute primarily through relatedness among themselves, while green technologies contribute when co-located with digital ones, with Artificial Intelligence being the most consistent interaction. These findings inform place-based regional innovation strategies by showing that the emergence of twin technologies depends not only on the accumulation of digital and green knowledge bases, but also on the specific configurations through which regions enter the twin technological space.