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

拟议研究项目的目的是描述、解释和评价新的社会经济变化动态对各中心以外区域的区域变革进程的影响，并确定在其基础上建立以知识为基础的发展道路的新的备选办法。与大多数现有研究不同，拟议的研究项目将侧重于位于创新网络边缘的空间，对于这些空间，新的总体动态的影响尚未得到充分调查。该项目的起点是创新出现和传播方面的最新变化，这些变化对以知识为基础的发展道路的出现和发展具有影响，尤其是在国家创新系统的(关系)边缘区域。目前，创新过程的特征和创新系统的配置正在发生变化，这不仅是因为数字化过程中出现了新的技术选择，也是因为许多创新活动越来越多地面向重大的社会挑战。近年来，对创新的已有的、以技术为主的理解已经转变为一种全面的视角，即主要将创新视为应对挑战的一种手段。在此背景下，本文从概念上得出了两个核心命题，并进行了实证检验：(I)职业和个人生活日益充满活力的数字化(尤其是新冠肺炎的结果)，以及许多创新过程越来越多地面向社会挑战，为在关系外围国家建立以知识为基础的发展道路创造了新的选择。(2)在类似的框架条件下，实现这些备选方案的区域差异在概念上和实践上都源于当地行为者和行为者联盟的具体活动，不仅包括与创新活动直接相关的活动，而且还包括那些有助于创造有利的体制环境或改善区域和地点在总体论述中的战略定位的活动。结果将有助于改进和澄清我们对社会技术转型过程中的空间差异的概念理解，以及关系外围国家通过有针对性的创新努力从新的总体趋势中获利的选择。此外，目前讨论的许多行为者驱动的路径发展方法仍有待于在这一特定区域背景下进行经验检验。除了科学贡献外，拟议项目的结果也可以为未来的区域创新政策提供参考。

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.