A review of regional innovation policy in European economic geography

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-9479.2022.02.2020249

Abstract

Abstract:

Regional innovation policies are critical to innovation-driven growth and economic structural transformation. Based on criticizing the neoclassical economics' space-neutral innovation policy, economic geographies proposed the place-based regional innovation policy, which has been adopted by the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This paper reviews the background, main tasks, theoretical basis and policy recommendations of the regional innovation policy. The findings are as follows. First, there are three mainstream frameworks of regional innovation policy in European economic geography, namely, regional innovation system, smart specialization, and sustainability transition studies. Second, each framework has their own focus point, that is, the regional innovation system focuses on fixing the system failure, the smart specialization on the direction of priority, and the sustainable transformation studies on fixing the transformation failure. Third, the policy recommendations in each framework are summarized. Finally,several promising avenues for the future regional innovation policy research of Chinese economic geography are proposed.

Key words: economic geography in the Europe, regional innovation policy, regional innovation system, smart specialization, the geography of sustainability transition

摘要：

区域创新政策对创新驱动增长和经济结构转型升级至关重要。20世纪90年代以来，基于对新古典主义经济学“空间中性”的创新政策的反思，欧洲经济地理学提出“基于空间”的区域创新政策，至今已被欧盟委员会和经济合作与发展组织等组织所采用。本文对这一时期欧洲经济地理学区域创新政策的发展背景、主要任务、理论基础和政策建议等方面进行梳理，研究发现：第一，欧洲经济地理学区域创新政策的主流框架有3个，分别是区域创新系统、精明专业化和可持续转型地理理论；第二，3个框架各有侧重，区域创新系统侧重解决系统失灵问题，精明专业化聚焦优先发展领域的选择问题，可持续转型地理理论则强调转型失灵问题；第三，针对上述问题，3个框架均给出“基于空间”的区域创新政策建议，其中，区域创新系统和精明专业化是基于区域资源禀赋差异的视角，可持续转型地理理论则从技术的空间粘性角度出发。最后，提出中国经济地理学未来区域创新政策研究的几个重点研究方向。

关键词: 欧洲经济地理学, 区域创新政策, 区域创新系统, 精明专业化, 可持续转型地理理论

Yijia CHEN, Juntao TAN. A review of regional innovation policy in European economic geography[J]. World Regional Studies, 2022, 31(2): 259-269.

陈奕嘉, 谭俊涛. 欧洲经济地理学区域创新政策研究进展[J]. 世界地理研究, 2022, 31(2): 259-269.

Figures/Tables 1

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参数	创新政策
参数	新古典主义	区域创新系统	精明专业化	可持续转型地理
流行时间	1950s—1980s	1990s至今	2009年至今	2012年至今
发展背景	二战后经济发展黄金时代	区域发展不平衡；经济发展趋同没有发生	欧盟竞争力下降；投资地理分散和产业重叠	可持续发展问题日益严重
理论基础	新古典主义经济学	区域创新系统/ 区域新产业路径发展	嵌入性、关联性、连接性、创业式探索	技术创新系统
主要问题	市场失灵	系统失灵	优先发展领域的选择	转型失灵
空间性	空间中性	基于空间	基于空间	基于空间
政策建议	对基础研究进行公共投资，补贴企业研发，加强知识产权保护	针对三类资源禀赋不同的区域（组织厚且多样化、组织厚但单一化、组织薄的区域创新系统），给出产业发展路径和系统失灵修复的建议	针对四类资源禀赋不同的区域（核心区、高新区、老工业区和边缘区），对其优先发展领域给出方向建议	针对四类空间粘性不同的技术（空间粘性型、生产锚定型、市场锚定型、无导向随意型的技术），给出相应的政策建议

参数	创新政策
参数	新古典主义	区域创新系统	精明专业化	可持续转型地理
流行时间	1950s—1980s	1990s至今	2009年至今	2012年至今
发展背景	二战后经济发展黄金时代	区域发展不平衡；经济发展趋同没有发生	欧盟竞争力下降；投资地理分散和产业重叠	可持续发展问题日益严重
理论基础	新古典主义经济学	区域创新系统/ 区域新产业路径发展	嵌入性、关联性、连接性、创业式探索	技术创新系统
主要问题	市场失灵	系统失灵	优先发展领域的选择	转型失灵
空间性	空间中性	基于空间	基于空间	基于空间
政策建议	对基础研究进行公共投资，补贴企业研发，加强知识产权保护	针对三类资源禀赋不同的区域（组织厚且多样化、组织厚但单一化、组织薄的区域创新系统），给出产业发展路径和系统失灵修复的建议	针对四类资源禀赋不同的区域（核心区、高新区、老工业区和边缘区），对其优先发展领域给出方向建议	针对四类空间粘性不同的技术（空间粘性型、生产锚定型、市场锚定型、无导向随意型的技术），给出相应的政策建议