ABSTRACT
The conclusion summarises the contributions of the book. We have adopted a definition of entrepreneurial discovery processes (EDP), diverging somewhat from that proposed by Foray (2015). Instead of approaching EDP as a hybrid of cluster and system analysis, we start with micro-level actors and how they are able to have an impact on economic structure. Before the entrepreneurial discovery, a process of exploration takes place. The issue is how the change from exploitation to exploration is possible, and what the implications for actors, processes, clustering and knowledge may be. This focus on EDP provides a unique micro-level point of departure for examining institutional preconditions for EDP through various perspectives, and for exploring and discovering how institutional barriers might be overcome through complexity, knowledge brokering, career mobility across knowledge boundaries, ambidexterity, citizen involvement, knowledge spaces, and also by connecting place-based innovation ecologies and strategies with transnational industrial networks and value chains. The book suggests a broad range of measures to overcome the current challenges of smart specialisation. Some of these measures are oriented towards citizens, such as promotion of mobility across helices and sectors, some towards institutions and actors inside regions, such as universities, firms and platforms, and some target institutional transformation directly.
