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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Overcoming barriers to new regional industrial path development: The role of a centre for research‐based innovation

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How regional industries can develop in an economically sustainable way is high on the research agenda. While the literature on regional change has focused primarily on historical case studies, it has said less about the barriers that hinder the desired change. This article contributes to a better understanding of barriers in regional innovation systems that hamper new regional industrial path development. Furthermore, the article analyses how a new knowledge organisation, the Centre for Research‐based Innovation Offshore Mechatronics in the Agder region of Norway, can contribute to overcoming these barriers. The Centre, which is a policy instrument funded by the Research Council of Norway, aims to contribute to path extension and potentially path modernisation. However, since its foundation, oil prices have dropped severely, resulting in new conditions for the Centre and its partners. The article concludes by discussing whether and how the Centre has contributed to overcoming the barriers that hinder developments beyond path extension.