This study explores the concept of regional innovation systems (RIS) and its impact in practice. Taking a governance perspective at RIS, it describes how Styrian innovation policy has developed over time, how this has been shaped by the RIS concept and what challenges remain for innovation policy. Styrian policy-makers were amongst the early adopters of the RIS concept in the 1990s, explicitly referring to its terminology and assumptions. The region then went through a series of policy reforms, both in terms of strategies and innovation instruments, which allow observing how the region adjusted itself to new trends and ideas. The study shows that the RIS concept had a measurable impact on current Styrian innovation policy-making, but that the visibility of this impact changed over time. It also shows that the Styrian system of innovation policy governance is complex: many actors, many strategies and even more instruments. This complexity is partly a result of RIS-based innovation policy-making itself and brings a set of challenges discussed in the paper.
| Date of Award | 21 Mar 2016 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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