6533b85bfe1ef96bd12bb417

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Regional Innovation System as a Framework for the Co-generation of Policy: An Action Research Approach

subject

description

Policy makers in regional development often relate their policies to frameworks proposed by researchers in the field. Of these frameworks, the regional innovation system (RIS) has been one of the most influential. This chapter focuses on the difficulties that arise when policy makers try to enact the RIS and other related frameworks and proposes action research—and, more specifically, a co-generative approach—to help face these challenges. The starting point for this proposal is an analysis of the differences and similarities between the observer and co-generative research approaches. Most research in this field has been developed with researchers positioned as outside observers, and co-generation could help to generate complementary knowledge. In order to explore this complementarity, the chapter presents the co-generative framework for territorial development, which is proposed as a response to the challenges of RIS. These theoretical arguments are complemented with a case study based on an action research process with policy makers in Gipuzkoa (Basque Country, Spain) that has been ongoing since 2009. The discussion of theory and the case lead to the proposal of two relevant challenges for the integration of co-generative frameworks in the RIS community: the challenge of emergence and the challenge of ideology.