Regional development in the context of an innovation process

Innovation has become of great importance to entrepreneurs, governments and scientists, since it has been recognised as the key factor to growth and competitiveness. Studies dedicated to innovation have proven that innovation and knowledge capital are highly concentrated in a minority of urban regions. The purpose of this paper is to identify main components and driving forces behind an innovation process in order to support regions in organising their 'endogenous innovation process'. To that end, we study models of an innovation process and analyse the case of Sophia Antipolis. Phenomena occurring over the years in Sophia Antipolis are to be seen as a shift from a linear paradigm of innovation processes into a systemic one.