System failures and regional innovation policy

Although many recent contributions have directly analysed the different types of failures that might affect the systems of innovation it is still quite unclear how the system-failures framework can be applied at the regional level. This paper tries to fill this gap and in particular it investigates whether and how the system-failures framework, based on evolutionary and system perspectives, can guide the regional policy-maker intervention. The paper shows that the reach of the regional level of policy-making depends on the characteristics of the regional innovation system in terms of financial autonomy, institutional competences and knowledge base.