Article: Context matters: a global bibliometric review of regional innovation systems Journal: International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (IJTPM) 2022 Vol.22 No.3 pp.247 - 270 Abstract: The concept of the regional innovation system (RIS) has received substantial attention from the scientific community, public administrations, and international organisations. This paper presents a systematic quantitative review of RIS research using bibliometric techniques and the Web of Science Core Collection database up to and including the year 2017. Four periods were examined to track the evolution of the RIS concept. The results show that RIS research has grown considerably since 2010, becoming a central research theme in countries focused on a systemic approach toward innovation and in decentralised countries, especially in Western Europe. 'Innovation', 'Europe', 'technology', 'networks', and 'firms' have been the core themes of RIS research since the concept arose in 1992. 'Entrepreneurship' was the major emerging research theme in the 2010s. Since 2010, other emerging topics have appeared, namely 'collaboration', 'organisation', 'triple helix', 'China', 'perspective', 'knowledge bases', and 'governance'. 'Smart specialisation' and 'creation' have been major themes since 2015. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Context matters: a global bibliometric review of regional innovation systems

Authors: Pedro López-Rubio; Norat Roig-Tierno; Francisco Mas-Verdú

Addresses: Department of Economics and Social Science, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, s/n, Valencia, 46022, Spain ' Department of Economics and Social Science, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, s/n, Valencia, 46022, Spain ' Department of Economics and Social Science, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, s/n, Valencia, 46022, Spain

Abstract: The concept of the regional innovation system (RIS) has received substantial attention from the scientific community, public administrations, and international organisations. This paper presents a systematic quantitative review of RIS research using bibliometric techniques and the Web of Science Core Collection database up to and including the year 2017. Four periods were examined to track the evolution of the RIS concept. The results show that RIS research has grown considerably since 2010, becoming a central research theme in countries focused on a systemic approach toward innovation and in decentralised countries, especially in Western Europe. 'Innovation', 'Europe', 'technology', 'networks', and 'firms' have been the core themes of RIS research since the concept arose in 1992. 'Entrepreneurship' was the major emerging research theme in the 2010s. Since 2010, other emerging topics have appeared, namely 'collaboration', 'organisation', 'triple helix', 'China', 'perspective', 'knowledge bases', and 'governance'. 'Smart specialisation' and 'creation' have been major themes since 2015.

Keywords: RISs; regional innovation systems; entrepreneurship; smart specialisation; bibliometrics; web of science; VOSviewer; SciMAT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2022.125257

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2022 Vol.22 No.3, pp.247 - 270

Received: 09 May 2020
Accepted: 13 Dec 2020
Published online: 05 Sep 2022 *

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Title: Context matters: a global bibliometric review of regional innovation systems

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