Abstract

The post-war period has been characterized by a strong growth of economic interdependencies at a global level. Regional economies and their industrial clusters were challenged to maintain or regain their competitiveness in the new global economy. Some regions – particularly core areas – have undergone successful innovation-based transformation, while many old industrialized and peripheral regions have lost competitiveness, employment and parts of their economic base. In this contribution we deal with conceptual approaches to globalization challenges of regions and clusters, focusing on types of regions, clusters and modes of innovation. We also provide examples of clusters located in different geographical contexts and investigate how they cope with innovation challenges and place-specific innovation barriers.