ABSTRACT
Viewing policy as “management of change,” this chapter sets out to explore how the governance of regional innovation induces change of gendered practices in regional innovation systems (RISs). One of the main topics of this book is to discuss how regions can introduce and realize innovative strategies and the role of innovation governance in such processes – setting national innovation policy in relation to specific initiatives to spur regional innovation hubs. This forms the basis for this chapter’s analysis of how efforts to mainstream gender in a selection of RISs in Sweden have been affected by a national program managed by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA). The analysis – based on common gender-scientific theories – casts a light on what motivates RISs to mainstream gender and how successful different modes of implementation are. It will be illustrated how gender is interesting, specifically in relation to multi-actor governance of regional innovation, by introducing ways to expand the range of actors, areas and innovations involved in such processes.
