Across Europe, regional development agencies (RDAs) have become a central feature of regional policy, both as innovative policy-makers and as the implementers of programmes and initiatives originating from the national or European level. By drawing on a combination of conceptual reflection, surveys, comparative research, and systematic use of critical case studies, this book provides a new point of reference by identifying key features of the current, and, indeed next, generation of regionally-based economic development organisations.

1. Regional Development Agencies: A generational story Nicola Bellini, Mike Danson and Henrik Halkier 2. Multi-actor and Multi-scalar Regional Development Policies in the Knowledge Economy Margareta Dahlström, Lise Smed Olsen and Henrik Halkier 3. Regional Development Agencies, Regional Policy, and Knowledge Dynamics: Surveying patterns and trends in Europe Henrik Halkier 4. The Regional Innovation Agencies in Europe: A comparative analysis Francesco Prota, Annamaria Fiore and Maria Jennifer Grisorio 5. The Potential Role of Regional Development Agencies in Achieving the Priorities of Europe 2020 in the Context of the Financial Crisis Leslie Budd 6. Regional Development Agencies and Changing Social Fields: Towards a sociology of regional systems of innovation Borut Roncevic 7. Governing Uneven Development: The politics of local and regional development in England Andy Pike, John Tomaney, Mike Coombes and Anja McCarthy 8. Analysing Regional Development through a Governance-Partnership Continuum: The case of Denmark Peter Wilgaard Larsen 9. Sub-regional Development Agencies: The Finnish experience Jukka Teräs and Ari Alatossava 10. For All Regions, Regional Development Agencies: The history and next generation of RDAs in Canada Heather M. Hall 11. Network Regionalism, Development Agencies and Peripheralisation Through 'Loss of Voice': Moving towards post-regionalism? Tassilo Herrschel 12. Aims, Functions and Structures of European Investment Promotion Agencies: A comparative analysis Francesca S. Rota and Carlo Salone 13. Smart RDAs in Europe: Advanced practices Philip Cooke and Julie Porter 14. The Evolution of Local Development Agencies from Service Providers to Facilitators in Knowledge Networks in the Basque Country: The role of academic expertise in the change process Miren Estensoro and Miren Larrea 15. Regional Development Agencies in Austria: Institutional settings and evolutionary development Michael Steiner and Matthias Schelnast 16. The Uneasy Future of Italian RDAs: The good, the bad and the ugly Alberto Bramanti and Paolo Rosso 17. Swedish Regions: Networking, knowledge and regional change Monica Johansson and David Rylander 18. RDA Futures Nicola Bellini, Mike Danson and Henrik Halkier