Title:
REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS AND LESS DEVELOPED BUSINESS ECOSYSTEMS: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND THEORETICAL TRENDS

Authors:
Fotios Katimertzopoulos, Charis Vlados, Theodore Koutroukis, Greece

Abstract:

In an era of policy-driven systematic encouragement of local innovation processes, the concept of regional innovation systems has been arisen to produce, promote and cultivate the region’s competitive advantage. The key reason for developing specific targeted policy measures within the regional innovation context is to focus on improving local business capacity, competitiveness and performance, including its business ecosystem. From this point of view, it is of crucial importance to promote interactions between different innovative actors who have good reasons to intersect, such as interactions between companies and universities or research institutes, or between small start-ups and larger businesses. These interactions may include interactive local learning and productive knowledge diffusion but they should also include the wider business community and governance framework. Therefore, this study investigates whether policy strategies could be geared towards the promotion of accessibility "to the development of a regional innovation system" and the "development of local comparative advantages" associated with the specific local resources, mainly in less developed business ecosystems.
Prior research studies undertaken in less developed business ecosystems indicate that companies themselves will grow in terms of regional development, mainly through innovating. Therefore, in order for local businesses in less developed ecosystems to lay the foundations for effective innovation they must adapt, improve and grow some essential internal business dimensions and variables, such as strategy, technology and management potential (Stra.Tech.Man. innovation theory). In this respect, the present study suggests the conception, analysis and interference of the mechanism of development in terms of the regional competitiveness web.
Overall, this academic paper is a conceptual research (Integrative review) that performs a literature review of several field research in regional innovation systems and less developed local business ecosystems, with the overall objective of identifying those variables (such as strategy, technology and management) that could contribute towards effective business innovation and long-term stable growth.