How sub-national conditions affect regional innovation systems: The case of the two Germanys

摘要

We compare two leading regional innovation systems (RIS) in East Germany with two RIS in West Germany of about the same size and degree of agglomeration. Our analyses show that differences in the performance between the regions cannot easily be related to the structural properties of the respective innovation networks because distinct challenges and macroeconomic conditions in the two parts of the country, as well as differences in integration of the regions into their neighbouring spatial environment, play an important role. We conclude that an analysis of RIS should account for the (sub-) national economic conditions as well as for the region's position in its spatial environment; merely focusing on region alone is not sufficient.