Governing systems of innovation : regions and technology in Europe : the case study of Catalonia in the 1980s and 1990s

Abstract

The Ph.D dissertation looks at some of the questions posed by the transformations of the forms of governance in the policy domain of technological innovation, stressing the territorial dimension of such changes. In particular, this study focuses on the regional level in Western Europe, during the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, when such changes seem to be more rapid and significant. For this purpose a whole theoretical framework is developed in relation to the concept 'Regional System of Innovation'. The definition of this concept follows the general trends of the 'evolutionär}' paradigm' in economic theory devoted to technical change, but introduces as well important points from the political science discipline in order to address the question of governance of the systems of innovation. Finally, the empirical study is centred on the case of Catalonia, as a dynamic region in this policy domain, within the context of the relevant transformations of the Spanish National System of Innovation since the mid 1980s.