ABSTRACT
This chapter's theme is how regions are positioned in processes of change by key agents and the possibilities of intervention designed to shape technological and innovation trajectories through a co-opted alignment of stakeholders at regional and international scales. It is about ‘picking winners’ – optimism tempered with reality. It reports on a three-year FP7 project: HealthTIES, which commenced in October 2010. Partners are Leiden, Oxford, Barcelona and Zurich, chosen because each region has a strong presence in biomedical research and the biotech sector. The chapter presents evidence from Oxfordshire, which for biotechnology and bio-medical research is the dominant part of the UK study region, the Thames Valley, in South East England. For this study the Thames Valley comprises the three geographical areas of the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It includes unitary authorities of Milton Keynes and those in Berkshire (for example Reading and Slough).
