Intensified global economic activity has meant that traditional organic regional economic development strategies and innovation policies are no longer relevant and, in particular, for regions that do not have existing industries and extensive resources (Kristensen, I. et al. 2019). Whilst more industrialised regions can have a strong innovative approach and pre-existing knowledge base they may be locked in to considering only the areas that they have experience of working in whilst those regions with less have tended to be on the periphery and suffer from the lack of a knowledge base. Additionally, due to the globalised nature of many large companies, subsidiaries may be less inclined to actively participate in regional development activities (Charles, D. et al. 2016).

 

Many existing regional bioeconomy strategies focus on economy enhancement and job creation ignoring key aspects of sustainability and resource accessibility (Staffas, L. et al. 2013). They also fail to consider the whole lifecycle which is essential to ensure that this emerging new economy is equitable (De Besi, M. & McCormick, K. 2015). It has also been suggested that strategy elements that should be set nationally or internationally such as sustainability standards do not need to be re-designed as part of regional strategies and that a clearer focus on timely and measurable action points and proper strategy implementation is a critical factor in the success (Dubois, O. and Gomez San Juan, M. 2016).

 

Therefore, a quadruple helix or multi-actor clustering approach has been suggested as more suitable for the creation of a strategy for regional bioeconomies. Businesses, public bodies, education and knowledge centres would work with societal organisations and citizen entrepreneurs who also have a significant interest and desire to bring positive changes to their regions (Charles, D. et al. 2016). Whilst this would incorporate more active participants and perhaps also assist in alleviating planning difficulties that many new bio-based developments experience due to a lack of knowledge base among citizens, it still needs to be tailored to the skills and knowledge of the participants available in the region and the resources. Therefore, the strategic approach for each region may differ considerably.

 

A question of specialisation or diversification of strategy then ensues. Prahalad and Hamel (1990) suggested a focus on core competencies to develop competitive advantage with Porter (2003) then extending this to argue that it is the entrepreneurs with a concentration on specific competencies that is necessary as part of a successful regional clustering strategy. Haussmann (2016) has furthered this argument to make it relevant for emerging bio-economies to suggest that it is serial entrepreneurs that have the ability to exploit emerging technologies and knowledge areas. Rather than focussing on building strategies based on existing industry in a multi-actor cluster it is the input and competencies of frontline citizens and entrepreneurs that could accomplish most. This would allow for a ‘smart specialisation’ strategy solution tailored to the type of region and competencies of actors present. For Ireland this is an argument that is of relevance as it would allow for diversification to capture the variety of skills often present in less developed peripheral regions and where new urban-rural links could capture the hidden values in spatial dynamics and knowledge interaction ((Kristensen, I. et al. 2019).

 

 

References:

Charles, D., Sara Davies, Stephen Miller, Keith Clement, Greet Overbeek, Anne-Charlotte Hoes, Marius Hasenheit, Zoritza Kiresiewa, Stefan Kah, Chiara Bianchini. 2016. Case studies of regional bioeconomy strategies across Europe. Ecologic. Available at: https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/publication/2016/biostep_d3.2_case_studies_of_regional_strategie.... Accessed on 15 June 2020.

 

De Besi, M. & McCormick, K. 2015, "Towards a bioeconomy in Europe: National, regional and industrial strategies", Sustainability (Switzerland), vol. 7, no. 8, pp. 10461-10478.

 

Dubois, O. and Gomez San Juan, M. 2016. How sustainability is addressed in official bioeconomy strategies at international, national, and regional level. FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5998e.pdf. Accessed on 15 June 2020.

 

Hausmann, R. (2016). Economic development and the accumulation of know-how, Welsh Economic Review24, 13–16.

 

Kristensen, I., Dubois, A. & Teräs, J. 2019;2018;, Strategic approaches to regional development: smart experimentation in less-favoured regions, 1st edn, Routledge, London.

 

Porter, M. (2003). The economic performance of regions, Regional Studies37(6–7), 549–578.

 

Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990). The core competence of the corporation, Harvard Business Review May–June, 79–91.

 

Staffas, L., Gustavsson, M. & McCormick, K. 2013, "Strategies and policies for the bioeconomy and bio-based economy: An analysis of official national approaches", Sustainability (Switzerland), vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 2751-2769.

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