Spatial scaling of regional strategic programmes in Finland: A qualitative study of clusters and innovation systems

Innovation systems and clusters are perhaps the most widely used concepts found in recent economic geography literature focusing on innovative industrial production and locational agglomeration. Both concepts have been universally embraced since the early 1990s onwards. However, recent literature has expressed criticism of their use as tools for policymaking. The authors studied innovation and cluster rhetoric in a geographical context by using empirical evidence obtained from the policy documents of the Finnish regional councils. They used a theoretical conception of spatial scaling as a geographical framework. Spatial scales proved to be a black box for regional strategies in Finland. Regional strategic programmes use a similar language that ignores the spatial variations of their locations. Clusters and regional innovation systems should be considered as parts of vertical and horizontal interlinkages within the economy and not as individual islands of organizational proximities in isolated contexts. The authors argued that an imprecise understanding of the innovation systems and cluster approaches, both conceptually and practically, has led to some ambiguity, resulting in the use of the terms clusters and innovation systems as buzzwords. This misuse hampers the ability of administrations to execute regional development in their respective areas. © 2014 Norwegian Geographical Society