Bridging the methodological divide: Inspirations from semantic network analysis for (evolutionary) economic geography

Abstract

Recent research in evolutionary economic geography addressing radical innovation and grand challenges has advocated for a shift in focus from single technologies and products toward interrelated configurations of technologies and institutions. This suggests moving beyond explaining innovation and industrial dynamics primarily by the existence of appropriate knowledge and capability stocks, to include institutional structures and the ability of actors to shape value-related dynamics. Despite an increasing suite of conceptual and empirical contributions to this extended agenda, its methodological underpinnings have not yet received sufficient attention. A particularly thorny issue is how to bridge quantitative assessments of related knowledge stocks with qualitative process reconstructions of regional development pathways. To bridge the methodological divide, we present a recent approach developed in transition studies – socio-technical configuration analysis and elaborate on how it may inform salient research problems in economic geography.