A state-of-the art framework for analysing and promoting innovation in the maritime industry in non-metropolitan regions

Maritime businesses like other economic activities are unevenly distributed and tend to concentrate in large urban agglomerations. This trend is expected to continue in the present era of a globalising knowledge economy which recognises knowledge and innovation being vital for industrial competitiveness, in addition to the resurgence of regions (sub-national division of a country) being the key drivers of innovation. From a theoretical standpoint, influential competitiveness frameworks such as clusters, and to a lesser extent, the regional innovation system (RIS) approach have been found well adapted to analyse and promote innovation in metropolitan regions. However, when applied in a non-metropolitan region, these frameworks present many limitations. This has prompted a call for alternative approaches to be developed for these types of regions. This paper responds to this call. Drawing from the economic geography concept of constructing regional advantage (CRA), the paper proposes a comprehensive framework for promoting industrial competitiveness through continuous innovation in a non-metropolitan region, and operationalising it in the maritime context.