“The Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems (PROGRIS) at the Centre for International Studies was established by Meric S. Gertler and David A. Wolfe to study a key aspect of the global economy: how firms and institutions interact to foster the innovation process in a regional context.

Bianca Potì and Roberto Basile developed a model to explain divergences in region/ country propensity to innovation through a system of innovation approach. They started from the idea that externalities and spillovers have positive effects on the innovative performance of firms, and focused on three types of interactions: (1) collaborative and network inter-firms relations; (2) sectoral-regional clusters; and (3) inter-institutional (industry-public research institutes) relations.

Probably the most influential concept in the field of innovative environments, the Regional Innovation System is conceived as a set of institutions, including clusters, universities, R&D centres, technology transfer organisations, financial and knowledge dissemination agencies, which work together and play the major role in influencing the innovative performance of companies.

As Chris Freeman has pointed out ‘The rate of technological change in any country and the effectiveness of companies in world competition in international/ trade in goods and services, does not depend simply on the scale of their R&D