Innovation in small regions

Innovation by co-evolution in natural resource industries: The Norwegian experience

Author's version of an article published in the journal: Geoforum. Also avaliable from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.01.008 Some resource-based economies become wealthy while others stay poor and Norway belongs to the first category. This paper argues that part of the answer to why Norway has managed to benefit from its rich natural resources is found in the formation of a well-functioning national innovation system. The paper integrates the innovation system approach with a historical approach through the concept of co-evolution. The empirical study investigates how innovation systems evolve in natural resource industries through analysing the co-evolution bet…