ABSTRACT
A crucial aspect of economic development concepts is how they are understood and put into practice. This is not just an academic question. Business and policy practitioners are constantly engaged in (re)defining and (re)enacting innovation at conceptual, strategic and operational levels. Whilst this engagement does use academic insights and approaches, this often occurs through lengthy translation and diffusion chains. This chapter considers the ‘social development’ perspective of social dynamics innovation networks (SDIN) by considering how innovation is framed and scripted in the wider context of related actors. More specifically, we ask what happens when an appealing concept of place-based innovation starts travelling across space.
