ABSTRACT
The importance of innovation as a fundamental cause of growth has long been recognised (Romer 1986; Lucas 1988; Aghion and Howitt 1992) and its role in regional performance is now also becoming clear: innovation in a broad sense (i.e. including not just ‘radical’ new products or processes, but also incremental changes in products and processes as well as new organizational tools) is the route to increase the competitiveness of the regions (OECD 2009).
