Sustainable regional development and innovation

Abstract

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Innovation drives sustainable regional development is the thesis that was tested in this inquiry, using literature reviews, case studies and field research interviews. Case study regions include all of the regions of Italy and the UK, the Nelson Region of New Zealand and the Hunter Region of NSW, Australia. Interviews were only conducted in the Hunter Region. The literature reviews revealed deep conceptual inadequacies. Sustainable regional development has leapfrogged a settled understanding of sustainability/sustainable development and regions/regional development. The former is a complex and incoherent normative field, yet managed through metric paradigms. The latter reflects politico-economic boundaries that may neither subsist nor reflect social and natural environmental functioning. The case study regions, particularly those of the UK, suggest innovation offers a possible solution to the conceptual inadequacies. They demonstrate how novel approaches to sustainability/sustainable development and regions/regional development can be progressed, despite incomplete or unsettled understanding. Sustainable regional development is best viewed as measurable human actions across environmental, social and economic fronts over time (sustainable development), directed at a normative goal (sustainability), in some spatial context (region). Sustainable regional development is manageable, despite the conceptual difficulties involved, by working with what one has (requiring capability development) and identifying what works (the basis of 'learning regions'). The Italian case study is used as a partial illustration. But the highly particularised literature on innovation did not illuminate the pathway connecting know-how in sustainable regional development to its successful diffusion. That pathway, dubbed The Innovation Opportunity, was, however, illuminated by the work of a philosopher, Ernst Bloch. Two additional thresholds beyond that of possibility (know-how) were revealed: progress (needing leadership) and probability (needing communication). The Innovation Opportunity, although developed specifically for sustainable regional development, is proposed as a generic innovation model. To test the relevance of this conclusion in a region, face-to-face field research interviews of Hunter Region leaders were conducted on regional challenges (candidates for innovation) and the roles of universities (innovation seedbeds) in addressing sustainable regional development. The upshot was a variety of useful insights suppportive of the overall thesis and the conclusion that this regional university may require better leadership and communication to relate more meaningfully to its region as to innovation for sustainable regional development. The thesis is proven, if both innovation and sustainability have been correctly understood. Opportunities for further research include validation of The Innovation Opportunity, improved communication of normative goals (e.g. sustainability), and understanding informal economies as indivisible components of sustainable regional development. Additional specific research opportunities in the Hunter Region were also identified