Regional eco-innovation trajectories

Given that eco-innovations and the associated renewal of regional economic structures are pivotal in addressing environmental challenges, regional research is increasingly focusing on their spatio-temporal dynamics. While green technological and industrial path developments in specific regions have received considerable attention, little effort has been made to derive general patterns of environmental inventive activities across regions. Drawing on unique data capturing both green incumbent and green start-up activities in the 401 German NUTS-3 regions over the period 1997-2018, this paper sheds light on how eco-innovation activities unfold in different regional contexts. For this purpose, we introduce sequence analysis methods into the research toolkit of research on regional development. These novel methods allow us to understand to what extent regions engage in eco-innovation activities, how these activities change over time and to what extent similar or unique eco-innovation trajectories (co)evolve. Based on this empirical approach, we distinguish different types of regional eco-innovation trajectories and find a strong persistence and path dependency in green regional development.