Fourthly, important differences exist between the structure and development of the
regional innovation systems of the study regions. In the Republic of Ireland, for
example, as the low level of public investment in R&D suggests "The attention to
R&D in the public sector and universities in the Republic of Ireland still lags far
behind other EU and OCED countries, and the R&D innovation system relies heavily
on the private business sector, especially multinational corporation inward investors"
(NIEC, 1999, p. 74). In Northern Ireland, the imbalance is instead towards the
dominance of local R&D by the public sector and higher education with relatively
low levels of R&D investment by locally-based businesses. Hence: "Imbalance in the
Northern Ireland system lies in the dominance of public-sector R&D capabilities in
Government and the lack of research institutions outside government and the
universities" (NIEC, 1999, p. 125). In contrast, both Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg
benefit from the fact that Germany is a ’highly industrialised country with a well-
developed innovative infrastructure’ (Grupp et al., 1998). Baden-Württemberg, in
particular, is often cited as having a well developed institutional infrastructure for
innovation alongside a range of internationally competitive businesses (Cooke, 1997;
Heidenreich and Krauss, 1998). Particular importance is attributed to technology
centres such as those in Karlsrhur and Heidelberg (e.g. Hassink, 1993), the technology
transfer activities of the Steinbeis-Stiftung network (e.g. Grotz and Braun, 1997;
Heidenreich and Krauss, 1998) and the education and training systems (Braczyk,
Cooke and Heidenreich, 1998).
South East England, which excludes London, has a total population of 4.8m, with
the highest population density of any UK region outside the capital. GDP per capita is
marginally above the EU average with a positive unemployment rate influenced by
rapid service sector employment growth during the 1990s (Table 1). In technological
terms, the South East enjoys a unique position within the UK regional hierarchy
playing host to a disproportionately large number of company headquarters and R&D
units. This is reflected in a level of patent applications per employee well in excess of
the UK average (Table 2). In more general terms, however, levels of R&D spending
in the region by both businesses, government and higher education are broadly in line
with the UK average, although notably higher than the other UK study regions (Table
2).
In line with other regions in England, the South East - through the development of the
network of Regional Development Agencies - has recently been given an increased
degree of autonomy in terms of some aspects of industrial and business development.
Debate continues over the likely effectiveness of these initiatives give the limited
budgets of the RDAs and their policy competencies. In the South-East as elsewhere,
however, innovation promotion has been seen as a priority by the South East England
Development Agency. Other initiatives have also been also introduced in the English
regions designed to enhance manufacturing competencies. One example is the
network of Centres of Manufacturing Excellence which were launched in 2001 in
partnership between the RDA and Small Business Service. The aim of the initiative is
to create a virtual Centre with the resources to facilitate better co-ordination and
networking within the local regional innovation system and to assist firms with
accessing support for their innovation activities.
Northern Ireland is the smallest of the study regions having a 1996 population of
1.66m, and average income levels consistently 20-25 per cent below the EU average