The relevance of change agency for innovation and transition in relational peripheries

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The aim of the proposed research project is to describe, explain and evaluate the effects of new dynamics of socio-economic change on regional transformation processes in regions beyond the centres and to identify newly emerging options to establish knowledge-based development paths on their basis. In contrast to the majority of existing studies, the proposed research project will focus on spaces located in the periphery of innovation networks, for which the implications of new, overarching dynamics have not yet been sufficiently investigated. The project’s starting point are recent changes in the emergence and dissemination of innovations which have implications for the emergence and development of knowledge-based development paths, not least in regions at the (relational) periphery of national innovation systems. Currently, the character of innovation processes and the configuration of innovation systems are changing not only due to the emergence of new technological options in the course of digitalisation, but also due to an increasing orientation of many innovative activities towards grand societal challenges. In recent years, the established, predominantly technological understanding of innovation has changed towards a holistic perspective that views innovation primarily as a means of addressing challenges. Against this background, two central propositions are conceptually derived and empirically tested: (i) The increasingly dynamic digitalisation of both professional and personal life, not least as a result of Covid-19 as well as the increasing orientation of many innovation processes towards societal challenges create new options to establish knowledge-based development paths in relational peripheries. (ii) Under comparable framework conditions, regional differences in the realisation of these options result, conceptually as well as practically, from concrete activities of local actors and actor coalitions, including not only those directly relevant to innovative activities as such but also those that help prepare a conducive institutional environment or to improve the strategic positioning of regions and locations in overarching discourses. The results will help to improve and clarify our conceptual understanding of spatial differences in processes of socio-technical transformation as well as the options of relational peripheries to profit from new, overarching trends by means of targeted innovation efforts. Furthermore, many currently discussed approaches to actor-driven path development remain to be empirically tested for this specific regional context. In addition to the scientific contribution, the proposed project’s results can also be used as reference for future regional innovation policies.