Theories of Endogenous Regional Growth — Lessons for Regional Policies

This concluding chapter creates a synthesis of the major aspects and lessons for regional policy presented in the preceding chapters. Common elements are found in the identification of a critical group of decision makers and their objectives, and in the specification of policies that give support to change processes that are essential in the development of knowledge resources, the implementation of new technology and the formation of clusters. Conclusions regarding these issues are embedded in the analysis of infrastructure, institutions and associated local policies supporting endogenous regional growth. This also means that local or regional advantage is understood as the result of territorial competition based on competitive advantages that evolve in a dynamic process. It is also recognised, in major parts, that policy itself is endogenous.