The Square: putting place-based innovation policy for sustainability at the centre of policymaking

In this anthology, leading scholars reflect on the conditions for place-based innovation for sustainability and its consequences for directionality, strategy development, governance, actors, and instruments for delivery and investment. 

Abstract

Place-based innovation policy for sustainability is essential for the delivery of the European Green Deal. In the current twin green and digital transition, deep societal transformations and new innovative solutions emerge in concrete territories. In this anthology, leading scholars reflect on the conditions for place-based innovation for sustainability and its consequences for directionality, strategy development, governance, actors and instruments for delivery and investment. Building on accumulated learning and balancing continuity with renewal, they outline new pathways for innovation and industrial policy in the EU. It is within this broader framing that concrete policy experiments such as Partnerships for Regional Innovation make sense as a necessary territorial articulation of the twin transition.