Extensive research has confirmed that regional activities that are conducive to regional performance such as innovation can have rather deep historical roots. Such historical roots include past industrial specializations, knowledge production and dissemination, urbanization economies, regional cultures, formal institutions and political regimes, as well as a region’s ‘first nature’ conditions (e.g., its location fundamentals, access to transport routes, the quality of the soil, natural resources, etc.). Such historical roots can lead to both, the flourishing of innovation in areas with favorable conditions as well as a lock-in on the old development path. Understanding such historical roots is highly important for any policy that aims at strengthening regional innovation and the regional innovation system.
We invite papers that analyze the role of both short-term and long-term historical factors affecting innovation. The main research questions to be addressed are:
