This paper examines the place-based dimensions of mission-oriented innovation policies, specifically exploring the role of governance modes and institutional settings in defining and articulating missions. Using a structured-focused comparison of case studies, we analyse the definition process of a green mobility initiative by the regional government in the Basque Country, Spain, alongside a corresponding subregional mission aimed at promoting new mobility solutions. Our findings reveal that varying governance modes have led to distinct types of missions, highlighting the relevance of institutional path dependencies in policy translation processes and their impact on mission directionality. We argue that this diversity can provide complementarities rather than fragmentation across different levels of government, facilitating a multilevel approach that effectively mobilises regional resources and communities.
{"title":"Governing green missions within regions: the case of the Basque Country","authors":"Edurne Magro, Ainhoa Arrona","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf030","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the place-based dimensions of mission-oriented innovation policies, specifically exploring the role of governance modes and institutional settings in defining and articulating missions. Using a structured-focused comparison of case studies, we analyse the definition process of a green mobility initiative by the regional government in the Basque Country, Spain, alongside a corresponding subregional mission aimed at promoting new mobility solutions. Our findings reveal that varying governance modes have led to distinct types of missions, highlighting the relevance of institutional path dependencies in policy translation processes and their impact on mission directionality. We argue that this diversity can provide complementarities rather than fragmentation across different levels of government, facilitating a multilevel approach that effectively mobilises regional resources and communities.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145089663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mission-oriented innovation policies have come to the forefront of debates in both research and policymaking. While attention has focused on top-down, science, technology and innovation missions, research has increasingly begun to explore their spatial and societal dimensions. The concept of micro-missions has been advanced to highlight the potential for smaller-scale, place-based responses to societal challenges. This paper exf the circumstances in which micro-missions are formulated and implementedplores the role of capacity to mobilise and challenge complexity in such missions and highlights the diversity of models for their design. A conceptual framework is advanced and tested with the case of public food micro-missions in Malmö, and strategic implications are identified.
{"title":"Analysing the prospects for place-based micro-missions: the role of challenge complexity and regional capacity","authors":"Dylan Henderson, Rick Delbridge","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf027","url":null,"abstract":"Mission-oriented innovation policies have come to the forefront of debates in both research and policymaking. While attention has focused on top-down, science, technology and innovation missions, research has increasingly begun to explore their spatial and societal dimensions. The concept of micro-missions has been advanced to highlight the potential for smaller-scale, place-based responses to societal challenges. This paper exf the circumstances in which micro-missions are formulated and implementedplores the role of capacity to mobilise and challenge complexity in such missions and highlights the diversity of models for their design. A conceptual framework is advanced and tested with the case of public food micro-missions in Malmö, and strategic implications are identified.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145017155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
What spatial interactions exist between state-driven innovation system building and regional rebalancing locally? Xi'an's resurgence via the development of the Xi'an–Xianyang New Area demonstrates how state's pursuit of the mission of national rejuvenation through indigenous innovation and regional rebalance intersects with state entrepreneurialism. Using our framework of dual entrepreneurialism, we investigate the evolutionary multi-scalar governance of Xi'an–Xianyang New Area from 2002 to the present. As a national project driven by subnational governments, it supports regional integration of urban development, industries and innovation. We find the instrumental role of an entrepreneurial province in mitigating local conflicts and the importance of entrepreneurial initiatives in assembling pro-innovation factors. Our findings enrich understanding of state–local entrepreneurial toolkits for innovation in mission-oriented economy.
{"title":"Embedding city revival into state-driven innovation system: unravelling the state–local entrepreneurial toolkits for innovation","authors":"Ziming Li, Yiqing Zhao, Zhang Zhang","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf025","url":null,"abstract":"What spatial interactions exist between state-driven innovation system building and regional rebalancing locally? Xi'an's resurgence via the development of the Xi'an–Xianyang New Area demonstrates how state's pursuit of the mission of national rejuvenation through indigenous innovation and regional rebalance intersects with state entrepreneurialism. Using our framework of dual entrepreneurialism, we investigate the evolutionary multi-scalar governance of Xi'an–Xianyang New Area from 2002 to the present. As a national project driven by subnational governments, it supports regional integration of urban development, industries and innovation. We find the instrumental role of an entrepreneurial province in mitigating local conflicts and the importance of entrepreneurial initiatives in assembling pro-innovation factors. Our findings enrich understanding of state–local entrepreneurial toolkits for innovation in mission-oriented economy.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145017156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study explores the link between mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) and green innovation by analysing green patent trends in Europe. The study quantifies MOIPs and its effect, filling a previously unexplored gap. This research offers an advancement in the methodology of assessing the impact of innovation policies, demonstrating the efficacy of machine learning in policy analysis. The findings reveal a significant connection between mission-oriented projects and increased green patent applications. It also indicates that state actors can stimulate innovation in certain areas in a targeted manner. This provides practical insights for policymakers and is instrumental in guiding future sustainable development efforts.
{"title":"Enhancing environmental sustainability: the impact of mission-oriented innovation policies on green innovation and patent trends","authors":"Felix Kurz","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf021","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores the link between mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) and green innovation by analysing green patent trends in Europe. The study quantifies MOIPs and its effect, filling a previously unexplored gap. This research offers an advancement in the methodology of assessing the impact of innovation policies, demonstrating the efficacy of machine learning in policy analysis. The findings reveal a significant connection between mission-oriented projects and increased green patent applications. It also indicates that state actors can stimulate innovation in certain areas in a targeted manner. This provides practical insights for policymakers and is instrumental in guiding future sustainable development efforts.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144930580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giovanna Ciaffi, Maria Cristina Barbieri Góes, Matteo Deleidi, Antonino Lofaro
This paper evaluates the impact of Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies and public R&D investment on regional economic development in Europe by quantifying the responses of GDP, employment and private R&D across 243 NUTS-2 regions from 1980 to 2019. Using linear and non-linear Local Projections methods, we find that public R&D investment generates the largest multiplicative effect and produces a greater impact in lagging regions than in leading ones, underscoring its crucial role in fostering regional convergence and driving technological advancement across European regions. Finally, our findings show that fiscal stimuli are especially effective during periods of deep recession.
{"title":"Turning the tide: how public R&D investment shapes European regional development","authors":"Giovanna Ciaffi, Maria Cristina Barbieri Góes, Matteo Deleidi, Antonino Lofaro","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf018","url":null,"abstract":"This paper evaluates the impact of Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies and public R&D investment on regional economic development in Europe by quantifying the responses of GDP, employment and private R&D across 243 NUTS-2 regions from 1980 to 2019. Using linear and non-linear Local Projections methods, we find that public R&D investment generates the largest multiplicative effect and produces a greater impact in lagging regions than in leading ones, underscoring its crucial role in fostering regional convergence and driving technological advancement across European regions. Finally, our findings show that fiscal stimuli are especially effective during periods of deep recession.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144898996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infrastructure networks are emerging as critical technological and physical assets of modern urban regions. These networks are complex, multi-layered, and have power and politics embedded within them, with impact being felt across different scales. Building on the idea that planning offers different visions, fantasies or imaginations of the future, I look specifically for agency and where it lies in the context of large infrastructure projects. Whose visions, imaginations and fantasies do these mega-projects represent? Drawing on work done on industrial infrastructure programmes in the Indian context, this commentary focuses specifically on locating agency within this process of building infrastructure and draws on a series of cases of infrastructure development in the Indian context through which intra-scalar governance processes can begin to be analysed and understood.
{"title":"Disjunct realities: understanding planning and governance through imaginaries of mega-infrastructure projects","authors":"Neha Sami","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf010","url":null,"abstract":"Infrastructure networks are emerging as critical technological and physical assets of modern urban regions. These networks are complex, multi-layered, and have power and politics embedded within them, with impact being felt across different scales. Building on the idea that planning offers different visions, fantasies or imaginations of the future, I look specifically for agency and where it lies in the context of large infrastructure projects. Whose visions, imaginations and fantasies do these mega-projects represent? Drawing on work done on industrial infrastructure programmes in the Indian context, this commentary focuses specifically on locating agency within this process of building infrastructure and draws on a series of cases of infrastructure development in the Indian context through which intra-scalar governance processes can begin to be analysed and understood.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144145563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines a megaproject through the lens of various layers of the State, each of which relies on State power in different ways to gain legitimacy for intervention in regional and local planning. It aims to dissect the State’s power into different entities, reflecting the successive phases of rescaling that have taken place in France and the Paris City-Region since the 2010 announcement of the Grand Paris Express megaproject. First, it explores the State’s re-engagement in local planning across different scales, revealing competing urban visions. Then, it discusses the concept of intra-state conflict, where the State sometimes contradicts itself. Finally, it proposes a framework to understand the intra-metropolitan transition in districts transformed by the megaproject.
{"title":"A mega-rescaling-project: state powers and intra-state conflicts in the development of the Grand Paris Express station districts","authors":"Antoine Gosnet","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf007","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines a megaproject through the lens of various layers of the State, each of which relies on State power in different ways to gain legitimacy for intervention in regional and local planning. It aims to dissect the State’s power into different entities, reflecting the successive phases of rescaling that have taken place in France and the Paris City-Region since the 2010 announcement of the Grand Paris Express megaproject. First, it explores the State’s re-engagement in local planning across different scales, revealing competing urban visions. Then, it discusses the concept of intra-state conflict, where the State sometimes contradicts itself. Finally, it proposes a framework to understand the intra-metropolitan transition in districts transformed by the megaproject.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144113976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Through the case of a hegemonic discourse formed around the UK’s cancelled mega-transport project High-Speed Two (HS2), this paper analyses the circumstances of its abandonment. The acquisition and loss of symbolic power are explained through different master and meta narratives. Mechanisms are identified through which HS2 became an ‘empty signifier’ temporarily filled with symbolic value, standing for different policy aspirations to rebalance the UK’s economy. Political speeches and the construction of narratives show how meta narratives around the project shifted and its symbolic value ebbed away to the point the project symbolised failure as opposed to ambition. Thus, when rising costs altered the ratio of costs to benefits, this narrative of failure was available to legitimate HS2’s cancellation.
{"title":"What killed HS2? Explaining the loss of political support for the UK’s high-speed rail megaproject","authors":"Dan Durrant","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf005","url":null,"abstract":"Through the case of a hegemonic discourse formed around the UK’s cancelled mega-transport project High-Speed Two (HS2), this paper analyses the circumstances of its abandonment. The acquisition and loss of symbolic power are explained through different master and meta narratives. Mechanisms are identified through which HS2 became an ‘empty signifier’ temporarily filled with symbolic value, standing for different policy aspirations to rebalance the UK’s economy. Political speeches and the construction of narratives show how meta narratives around the project shifted and its symbolic value ebbed away to the point the project symbolised failure as opposed to ambition. Thus, when rising costs altered the ratio of costs to benefits, this narrative of failure was available to legitimate HS2’s cancellation.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144133764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mega sporting events are rich in symbolism that has made them attractive to cities and nations as a vehicle for signalling to a global audience a host’s openness to trade, tourism and investment, and as a catalyst for potentially transformational infrastructure programs and urban renewal. However, they have given rise to a symbolic economy with adverse features making hosting extremely costly, leading to increased political resistance in potential host regions. Proponents of hosting mega sporting events claim they will generate an economic boom, but much of the literature finds otherwise. This article critically reviews past studies which value either economic or intangible net benefits of mega sporting events, before developing an illustrative example to elicit how past methodological problems and misapplications can be overcome through a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis that accounts for all economic and intangible net benefits, properly treating all legacies arising from an event’s symbolic capital.
{"title":"Putting a value on hosting a mega sporting event: symbolic value, economic and intangible effects","authors":"John R Madden","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf008","url":null,"abstract":"Mega sporting events are rich in symbolism that has made them attractive to cities and nations as a vehicle for signalling to a global audience a host’s openness to trade, tourism and investment, and as a catalyst for potentially transformational infrastructure programs and urban renewal. However, they have given rise to a symbolic economy with adverse features making hosting extremely costly, leading to increased political resistance in potential host regions. Proponents of hosting mega sporting events claim they will generate an economic boom, but much of the literature finds otherwise. This article critically reviews past studies which value either economic or intangible net benefits of mega sporting events, before developing an illustrative example to elicit how past methodological problems and misapplications can be overcome through a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis that accounts for all economic and intangible net benefits, properly treating all legacies arising from an event’s symbolic capital.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144113621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Felipe Livert, Xabier Gainza, Pablo Herrera Rivera
Megaprojects are electoral magnets due to their transformative power, but they also raise strong opposition. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design, this paper assesses the impact on presidential elections of Mapuche attacks and protests at two strategic road infrastructures. Mapuche uses a repertoire of non-conventional actions in their struggle with the Chilean state seeking self-determination. Estimations reveal that attacks reduce the likelihood of victory for the governing coalition at nearby polling stations, while protests have no effect. We interpret these results as a contest in the symbolic sphere to oppose the narratives of modernity and unity that highways embody.
{"title":"Megaprojects as sites for resistance: the electoral effects of Mapuche attacks on highways","authors":"Felipe Livert, Xabier Gainza, Pablo Herrera Rivera","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsaf004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf004","url":null,"abstract":"Megaprojects are electoral magnets due to their transformative power, but they also raise strong opposition. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design, this paper assesses the impact on presidential elections of Mapuche attacks and protests at two strategic road infrastructures. Mapuche uses a repertoire of non-conventional actions in their struggle with the Chilean state seeking self-determination. Estimations reveal that attacks reduce the likelihood of victory for the governing coalition at nearby polling stations, while protests have no effect. We interpret these results as a contest in the symbolic sphere to oppose the narratives of modernity and unity that highways embody.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143570392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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