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Second tier high-tech regions are taking a different path than their well-known counterparts such as Silicon Valley or Route 128 around Boston. They may lack many prerequisites of growth such as a world-class research university or high levels of venture capital funding. Often, however, they can successfully leverage anchor firms and entrepreneurial spinoffs. This book explores the evolution of these regions in the United States. The author critically examines how they evolved as knowledge-based economies, how they leveraged entrepreneurship and innovation, and ultimately how they employed pub

In an age where the globalization process is threatening the uniqueness and vitality of small towns, and where most urban planning discourse is directed at topics such as metropol-regions or mega-regions and world cities, the authors here emphasize the need to critically reflect on the potential of small towns. The second edition is expanded to cover the intensive development of small towns in China and Korea. In addition, the authors examine the impact of the economic crisis on small towns and the recent development of the Slow City movement

Das Kompetenzzentrum für Regionalentwicklung im Oberwallis – Regions- und Wirtschaftszentrum Oberwallis AG oder kurz RWO AG genannt – gilt seit seiner Gründung 2008 als eine beispielhafte regionale Entwicklungsorganisation. Die RWO AG bündelt regionale Interessen und vernetzt AkteurInnen, koordiniert und begleitet Projekte. Nach mehr als 10 Jahren Laufzeit, wurde das CRED damit beauftragt, anhand einer Wirkungsanalyse ihre vielfältigen Tätigkeiten in der Regionalentwicklung zu überprüfen. Diese Analyse umfasste vier methodische Zugänge: Fokusgruppen-Interviews, die jährliche Zufriedenheitsumfrage des Kantons, eine Medienanalyse sowie eine Analyse einer Datenbank mit über 160 Projekten. Dank ihrer ausgeprägten Fach- und Projektkompetenz, leistet die RWO AG einen zentralen Beitrag in der Initiierung, Leitung und Durchführung von Projekten in vielfältigen Bereichen wie Tourismus, Gemeinde- und Agglomerationsentwicklung, wirtschaftliche Entwicklung sowie regionale Governance. Insgesamt ist es der RWO AG gelungen, ein regionales Bewusstsein für die Entwicklung des gesamten Oberwallis zu schaffen. Die RWO AG nimmt eine Schlüsselrolle in der Region ein indem sie regionale AkteurInnen zusammenführt und deren Aktivitäten koordiniert. Die RWO AG wird als effektive regionale Entwicklungsorganisation gesehen, die massgeblich die Zukunft des Oberwallis beeinflussen kann. Angesichts zukünftiger Herausforderungen (Nachhaltigkeit, Klimaanpassung, Folgen von Covid-19, etc.) wird die regionale Handlungsfähigkeit im Zentrum stehen. Hier muss die RWO AG auch weiterhin eine zentrale Rolle spielen, indem sie sich riskanten, emotionalen und auch schwierig durchsetzbaren Projekten annimmt. Der territorial differenzierte Ansatz der Regionalentwicklung wird von der RWO AG sehr gut verfolgt. Hierfür benötigt es Organisationen wie die RWO AG, die die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Akteuren aus Wirtschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft fördern können.

AbstractThere is a general understanding that university plays a crucial role in regional development under the current age of knowledge economy. At the same time, we have observed a fair number of counter‐evidentiary studies, demonstrating several regions that do not thrive despite strong research universities or other patterns of development in the absence of research universities. However, they are based on case studies of individual universities or regions, and the findings currently cannot be generalized. Another set of studies that have challenged the effect of universities at the nationwide scale and demonstrated its disproportionately small impact of universities, but their scope is limited to spin‐offs, patents, and license activities. In this article, we propose to investigate this subject more systematically by triangulating three methods: 1) national‐scale regression models with Business Dynamics Statistics and National Establishment Time Series data, 2) a regional survey of IT and life science firms in four so‐called "second tier regions," and 3) a microeconomic firm‐level analysis based on interviews with founders of technology intensive firms. Furthermore, we test the roles of university beyond those explicit, direct measures of spin‐offs and patents by analyzing the firm formation rate and firm growth rate at the regional level, as well as the sources of growth at the company level. All results point in the same direction: The research function of the university has been overstated, and the teaching function of the university has been underappreciated. These findings provide profound implications for the policy of regional development.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) consist of interacting components, which foster new firm formation and associated regional entrepreneurial activities. Current work on EE, however, focuses on documenting the presence of system components, which means there is little understanding of interdependencies between EE components and their evolutionary dynamics. To address these issues, the objective of the present study is to develop an evolutionary framework of EE development that integrates important components from prior work and describes how critical elements of an entrepreneurial system interact and evolve over time. The value of this framework in understanding the evolutionary dynamics of EE will be demonstrated by profiling the EE of Phoenix, Arizona. The evolutionary perspective developed is valuable because it provides a sense of how history, culture and the institutional setting impact EE. It also provides stakeholders with action points to help maintain or propel an EE to the next level. This is a distinct improvement over static approaches that provide a list of EE ingredients with no sense of their relative importance over time. The proposed framework may also be used in a comparative context to compare and contrast the evolutionary trajectory of EE to better understand why particular places remain trapped in a specific phase of growth or continue to evolve over time.

In an era in which the individuality and vitality of small towns are under threat from globalization, and city planning discussions tend to center on topics like metropolitan regions, megaregions, and global cities, the authors of this volume see a need to reflect critically on the potential of small towns. They show how small towns can meet the challenge of a fast-paced, globalized world, and they use case studies to introduce movements, programs, and strategies capable of effectively promoting local cultures, traditions, identities, and sustainability. Small towns often play critical roles in regional economic systems. When small towns focus on their specific characteristics and take advantage of their opportunities, they can become stable niches within regional, national, and global economies and take on an important role in shaping a sustainable future.

Vorwort; 1. Einleitung; Warum Kleinstädte?; Die Globalisierung und die Entwicklung der Kleinstädte; Lebensqualität und Nachhaltigkeit; 2. Die Mobilisierung für den Wandel in Kleinstädten; Die Mobilisierung gegen die Globalisierung; Regional, biologisch, authentisch, entschleunigt; Netzwerke der Nachhaltigkeit; 3. Umwelt und Nachhaltigkeit; Konflikte zwischen den verschiedenen Zielen der Nachhaltigkeit; Ökologische Probleme kleiner Städte; Das große Ganze: Globales und lokales Handeln; Schwedens Eko-Kommuner-Bewegung; Flächennutzung und Stadtentwicklung; Ambitionierte Kleinstadtprojekte