Industrial Policies Promoting Communities of Innovation: Comparative Analysis in Puglia (Italy) and Guangdong (China)

The first aim is to show how governments support the creation and development of Communities of Innovation (CoI) in two different institutional settings, namely Puglia Region and Guangdong Province, highlighting both the differences and similarities in the implementation of such policies. The second objective is to measure the effort of governments in implementing policies for innovation. The overall aim is to shed light on whether, and if so, to what extent the “public hand” may be desirable for the development of CoI. Through a comparative study of Puglia and Guangdong, we first explore the innovation programs implemented by each government in the attempt of identifying those explicitly designed or having as an effect the promotion of CoI. We analyse characteristics, recipients, and objectives of the programs and highlight differences and similarities. The analysis of these programs brings us to the selection of indicators measuring the efforts made by governments for the promotion of innovation policies. We use these indicators for the computation of composite indices measuring the intensity of policies and compare the two areas in terms of public policy efforts for innovation. Considering two regions that greatly differ in terms of economy, and political and social background, we show whether and how local governments are involved in the promotion of innovation and in particular of CoI. Furthermore, we contribute to the debate that focuses on understanding the extent to which the involvement of the governments in the promotion of innovation produces desirable results. Finally, from a practical perspective, this work offers a critical analysis of a number of policy levers for the promotion of investments and initiatives aimed at creating favourable conditions for the flourishing of formal and informal CoI. The outcomes of the work gives strength to the idea that in the last few years innovation has become the main objective of governments, and CoI are one of the privileged mechanisms to achieve this objective. The comparison of Puglia and Guangdong, taken as two diametrically opposed examples in terms of institutional setting, may lead to uncover similar roles and uses of public interventions in the establishment and development of CoI. The demonstration of consistencies between the two areas in the implementation of policies would contribute to the more general industrial policy debate heralding the importance of public policies in favour of innovation, even in places where industrial policies are not clearly institutionalized.