Innovazione e sviluppo locale. Concetti, esperienze, politiche

Innovazione e sviluppo locale. Concetti, esperienze, politiche - nnovation and local development: paradigms, experiences, policies, by Gilberto Seravalli This article offers a review of innovation literature analyzed from the perspective of local development. The idea of comparing and contrasting the processes of local development and innovation, both of which need to be constructive and create generative relationships if they are to be successful, has proved useful and has led to new policy considerations for innovation and development at a European and regional level. The article attempts a definition of the innovation process with some original aspects that contribute to proposing a possible theory of innovation in contexts of uncertainty and to outlining an agenda for innovation policies. The innovation process is seen as a productive application of new ideas; a change from conservative states (discontinuity); an intentional action that takes place through the interaction of forces and agents at different levels; a process change with unexpected outcomes that depend on intermediate ones and, therefore, a "localized" process. Every component of this definition, suggested by similar experience of local development, finds arguments to support it in the literature on innovation. Within the existing literature, the most interesting theory of innovation is proposed by Lane and Maxfield. In their theory, the social construction of meanings (narrative and attributions) and relational subjectivities plays a fundamental role. Conditions (that have been located and recognized) then emerge, they claim, on which the generative nature of relationships between agents in the potential innovation process depends. These conditions, with very interesting parallels in local development processes, may contribute to drafting new policies for innovation compared to the tools that are usually implemented. Keywords: innovation, local development, innovation policies. JEL Classification: O.31-O.32.

Gilberto Seravalli, Innovazione e sviluppo locale. Concetti, esperienze, politiche in "ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE " 1/2008, pp 75-106, DOI: