Dinâmicas Territoriais de Inovação: O Caso do Sector Têxtil-confecções No Arco Urbano do Centro Interior

Abstract

This article examines the territorial dimension of the innovation processes of the textile-clothing sector on an old industrialised in a peripheral area of Portugal. The first part of the article argues that the role of localized learning is of strategic importance in the promotion of the regional innovation potential. With reference to current research on regional policy, the author also argues that sustainable regional strength is built on a continuously upgraded knowledge base, rather than on general factor endowment. The empirical results stressed the very fragile base of interaction among the regional innovation actors, a situation that severely restrains the capacity to foster a regionally based innovation system. Innovations predominantly follow prevailing technological trajectories and are mainly of the incremental type. Furthermore, a very restrictive notion of innovation predominates among these entrepreneurs as they confuse modernization strategies with innovation. The firms’ partners along the value chain are not usually in the region, and innovation dynamics are not regionally embedded.