To what extent can regions diverge from established paths of economic development? Are their futures determined by institutional and industrial structures that may be hundreds of years old or do innovations, transfers, and adaptations of knowledge, technology, learning systems, and policy mechanisms offer realistic opportunities for regional development?

Focuses on potentials for new forms of regional development and change considering the constraints of path dependency

Beyond Path Dependency and Competitive Convergence.- Tacit Knowledge, Path Dependency and Local Trajectories of Growth.- Regional Transformation and Regional Disequilibrium: New Knowledge Economies and their Discontents.- Switching ties, recombining teams: Avoiding lock-in through project organization?.- Knowledge-intensive services as a key sector for processes of regional economic innovation: Leapfrogging and path dependency.- Entrepreneurship as a source of path dependency.- Geographical proximity and the diffusion of knowledge.- Continuities, ruptures, and re-bundling of regional development paths: Leipzig's metamorphosis.- Can less favored regions change their destiny? Lessons from Europe.- Innovation challenges and strategies in catch-up regions.- Path dependency in Baden-Württemberg: Lock-in or breakthrough?.- Rethinking regional innovation policy.- On the role of global demand in local innovation processes.- The regionalization of innovation policy: New options for regional change?.