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The purpose of this article is to investigate data, information and knowledge in regional innovation networks. Emphasis has been put recently on regional innovation systems, where various actors are involved in innovative processes. The article responds to the need to study matters related to knowledge management and information quality in such environments.

Regional innovation networks and data, information and knowledge as well as research on them are discussed at a theoretical level. An existing innovation network of the Lahti region, Finland, was utilised as a pilot environment when building the knowledge management framework that is introduced. The framework is based on established knowledge management literature and practice.

The results confirm that the aspects of data, information and knowledge need to be addressed systematically in regional innovation networks. They are intertwined with knowledge management and network management. The knowledge management framework introduced incorporates, apart from information quality considerations, future‐oriented self‐transcending knowledge as well as knowledge vision and knowledge assets. Considerations of absorptive capacity and information brokerage in the regional knowledge environment are emphasised.

The limitations of the framework will be assessed in future studies. This will also improve understanding of practical implications. Research implications are related to data, information and knowledge quality – as well as absorptive capacity between the two subsystems of the regional innovation system.

The article combines in a novel way research fields that have previously barely been combined – information quality, knowledge management and regional innovation networks. It provides new insights into a societally important theme and shows possible avenues of further research.

The purpose of this paper is to study how actors in a network for regional development perceive the network by addressing the questions of what characterizes a network for regional development and why the actors participate in such a network.

The study focussed on using networking for regional development in Sweden, utilizing a qualitative method with a hermeneutic approach.

Regional development requires the inclusion of a participatory multi-actor process, involving a diversity of societal stakeholders. A network for regional development entails hierarchy, and may be characterized by dominance. The informal character of networks for regional development creates vagueness, and might lead to unclear results, in the end affecting the function of the network. Leadership is crucial for the outcome of networks for regional development, but leadership is challenging in the absence of formal decision making and a controlling structure.

As this was an intra-case study, generalization of the findings and conducting a cross-case analysis were not feasible.

The attributes of a network for regional development, i.e. hierarchy and dominance, constitute problems that need to be solved. The informal character of a network may create vagueness, making it difficult to produce tangible results. Hence it is vital to discuss results from different angles. An effective network requires a process leader who promotes trust and mutuality, and pushes the network in the desired direction.

The present paper integrated research on network for regional development with general network theory, offering a better understanding of a topic in which research is relatively limited.

The study conceptualises universities as “cities of flows” to examine the East-West University Partnership (EWUP) in China, which is a pioneering initiative of cross-regional university collaboration linking over 220 institutions across China since 2001. The study explores the strategic enhancement of connective and collaborative capacity of universities to facilitate diverse flows of talent, knowledge and other resources within the broader context of China's sustainable development in higher education.

The study employs a qualitative single-case study design to investigate the EWUP within its real-life context using participant observation and documentary research. As an analogical inquiry, the study merges the insider and outsider perspectives of the researchers to identify patterns between theoretical constructs and empirical evidence.

The EWUP as a policy entrepreneurship has significantly contributes to coordinated, inclusive and sustainable development. Its spatial dynamics consists of structural, temporal and collaborative dynamics. They are characterised by centrality, connectivity and adaptability which are generated through the interplay among the nodes, linkages and fields of influence within the EWUP network. These dynamics showcase EWUP as a novel approach to managing long-term university partnerships between more and less developed regions.

The study reimagines universities and higher education systems through vivid analogies of cities and transportation networks and elucidates connectivity as a pivotal dimension of sustainability. It advocates for reexamining spatial theories in higher education, deepens insights into the dynamics of cross-regional university partnerships in coordinating educational and territorial development, and enriches discussions on Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD).

The purpose of this paper is to find out the characteristics and evolutionary trends of China’s inter-regional innovation correlation network, the status and roles of each province in China’s inter-regional innovation correlation network and the influencing factors of China’s inter-regional innovation correlation effect.

Based on the patent data of 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China from 1991 to 2017, social network analysis was used to find out the characteristics and evolutionary trends of China’s inter-regional innovation correlation network and the status and roles of each province in China’s inter-regional innovation correlation network. Furthermore, the QAP method was used to find out the influencing factors of China’s inter-regional innovation correlation effect.

China’s inter-regional innovation correlation is becoming increasingly close and inter-regional innovation correlation network is becoming increasingly stable. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other eastern coastal provinces are at the core in the inter-regional innovation correlation network, while the western regions are marginal actors. China’s regional innovation development territory can be divided into four blocks, namely, “bidirectional spillover block,” “net spillover block,” “main beneficial block” and “net beneficial block,” and gradient transfer mechanism is obvious between the blocks. The geographical adjacency and similarity in regional industrial structure, urbanization level and government attention degree have significant positive effect on China’s inter-regional innovation correlation effects.

This paper only uses patent application as a measure of regional innovation level to analyze inter-regional innovation correlation effect. Meanwhile, this paper carries out an empirical study only from the provincial level and not from the city level.

This paper provides the practical basis for further promoting the coordinated development of regional innovation and promoting the construction of regional innovation systems with different characteristics.

This paper contributes to understand the status and role of each province in inter-regional innovation correlation network. Meanwhile, this paper also helps to understand the influence of the proximity and external environmental factors on inter-regional innovation correlation effect.

The competitiveness of mining regions largely depends on the performance of the regional supply chains that provide services to mining companies. These local supply chains are often highly intertwined and represent a regional supply network for the industry. Individual companies often use supply chain strategies that are sub-optimal to overall supply network performance. To effectively respond to an uncertain business environment, policy-makers and supply chain participants would benefit by a governance framework that would allow to incentivise the formation of supply networks structures enabling effective operations. The purpose of this paper is to offer an empirically grounded conceptual framework based on Complex Adaptive Systems (CASs) governance principles, which links network governance mechanisms with supply network structure and operational performance to incentivise the formation of adaptive and resilient supply networks in the mining industry.

A mixed method research design and a case study of the South Australian mining sector were used to collect empirical data. Qualitative interviews and network analysis of the SA mining industry regional supply network structure were conducted. The relationships between network parameters were interpreted using CAS theory.

An empirically grounded conceptual framework based on CAS governance principles is developed. The case study revealed that supply chain strategies and governance mechanisms in the SA mining industry have led to the formation of a hierarchical, scale-free structure with insufficient horizontal connectivity which limits the adaptability, responsiveness and resilience of the regional supply network.

The findings are drawn from a single case study. This limits generalisability of the findings and the proposed framework.

The proposed framework draws the attention of the policy-makers and supply chain participants towards the need for utilising CAS governance principles to facilitate the formation of adaptive, responsive and resilient regional supply networks in the mining industry.

The proposed conceptual framework is an attempt to parameterise the governance of the regional supply networks in the mining industry.

The manufacturing industry and the producer service industry have a high degree of industrial correlation, and their integration will cause changes in the complex industrial network topology, which is an important reason for the synergistic effect. This paper describes the topology of industrial systems using complex network theory; further, it discusses how to identify the criticality and importance of industrial nodes, and whether node characteristics cause synergistic effects.

Based on the input-output data of China in 2007, 2012 and 2017, this paper constructs the industrial complex network of 30 Chinese provinces and cities, and measures the regional network characteristics of the manufacturing industry. The fixed-effect panel regression model is adopted to test the influence of agglomeration degree and centrality on synergies, and its adjustment mechanism is explored.

The degree of network agglomeration in the manufacturing industry exerts a negative impact on the synergistic effect, while the centrality of the network exerts a significant promoting effect on the synergistic effect. The results of adjustment mechanism test show that enhancing the autonomous controllable ability of the regional industrial chain in the manufacturing industry can effectively reduce the effect of network characteristics on the synergistic effect.

Based on input-output technology, this paper constructs a complex industrial network model, however, only basic flow data are used. Considerable in-depth and detailed research on the economic and technological connections within the industry should be conducted in the future. The selection of the evaluation index of the importance of industrial nodes also needs to be further considered. For historical reasons, it is also difficult to obtain and process data when carrying out quantitative analysis; therefore, it is necessary to make further attempts from the data source and the expression form of evaluation indicators.

In a practical sense this has certain reference value for the formulation of manufacturing industrial policies the optimization of regional industrial layout and the improvement of the industrial development level. It is necessary to formulate targeted and specialized industrial development strategies according to the characteristics of the manufacturing industry appropriately regulate the autonomous controllable ability of the industrial chain and avoid to limit the development of industries which is in turn limited by regional resources. Industry competition and market congestion need to be reduced industry exchanges outside the region encouraged the industrial layout optimized and the construction of a modern industrial system accelerated.

The above research results hold certain reference importance for policy formulation related to the manufacturing industry, regional industrial layout optimization and industrial development level improvement. Targeted specialized industrial development strategies need to be formulated according to the characteristics of the manufacturing industry; the autonomous controllability of the industrial chain needs to be appropriately regulated; limitation of regional resources needs to be avoided as this restricts industrial development; and industry competition and market congestion need to be reduced. Agglomeration of production factors and optimization of resource allocation is an important part of a beneficial regional economic development strategy, and it is also an inevitable choice for industrialization to develop to a certain stage under the condition of a market economy. In alignment with the research conclusions, effective suggestions can be put forward for the current major industrial policies. In the process of promoting the development of the manufacturing industry, it is necessary for regional governments to carry out unified planning and guidance on the spatial layout of each manufacturing subsector. Regional governments need to effectively allocate inter-industry resources, better share economies of scale, constantly enhance the competitive advantages and competitiveness of development zones and new districts and promote the coordinated agglomeration and development of related industries with input industries. Industrial exchanges outside the region should be encouraged, the industrial layout should be optimized and the construction of a modern industrial system should be accelerated.

Complex network theory is introduced to study the industrial synergy effect. A complex industrial network of China's 30 regions is built and key network nodes are measured. Based on the dimensionality of the “industrial node – industrial chain – industrial complex network”, the research path of industrial complex networks is improved.

This paper aims to draw on a number of indicators of innovation to evaluate and compare two central regions – Hubei and Hunan – with three leading regions of China – Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.

The paper focuses on absorptive capacity at the level of domestic regions of China, using data on R&D expenditures, human resources in higher education and in high-tech industries. The paper uses social network analysis to investigate innovation networks based on patents from the SIPO and USPTO.

Results indicate that, in Hubei and Hunan, R&D expenditures do not translate into as many innovative outputs as in the coastal and Southern regions. Moreover, high-tech industries contribute towards a relatively low proportion of the regional outputs of Hubei and Hunan, where especially the electronics industry is very poorly represented. Findings also suggest that Hubei and Hunan have a relatively limited access to foreign technologies embedded in ties with international partners. By contrast, the more advanced three regions tend to develop collaborative activities across national boundaries to a higher extent than across regional boundaries.

The analysis of China's regional innovation system has implications for research on national innovation systems. Policy-makers can benefit from the comparative analysis of regions.

The study is primarily exploratory, and the findings contribute to the literature and ongoing discussion on data sources and methods for the analysis of regional innovation.

The paper seeks to introduce the concept of knowledge‐intensive business services (KIBS) in the context of regional networks and to analyze the roles of KIBS in regional development, especially from the viewpoint of regional intellectual capital.

Regional networks are presented as the networks of production, development and innovation in the region. Drawing from recent literature, the roles of KIBS in regional networks are discussed.

It is argued that networks for production emphasize explicit knowledge, networks for development emphasize tacit knowledge, and networks for innovation emphasize emergent, potential knowledge. It is further stated that KIBS provide the timely information needed in production networks, transfer best practices that support learning in development networks, and function as sources of innovation and facilitators of innovation processes in innovation networks.

The paper provides an approach to reduce the complexity of regional networks into a more manageable level, and highlights the importance of knowledge‐intensive business services in regions.

The approach used in this paper addresses the following gaps in existing research: it argues that KIBS are important actors in the regional IC development, highlights that the roles of KIBS are different in production, development and innovation activities, and argues that a successful region needs all of these activities.

This paper proposes the concepts of communities of enterprise (CoEs) and virtual communities of enterprise (VCoEs) to describe business networking patterns in regional areas where there is no central organisational or industry focus and small and medium enterprises dominate the economy.

Based on analysis of the literature this paper builds on theoretical understandings of knowledge management, clustering and regional development.

The concept of CoEs is most appropriate for regional areas characterised by many small enterprises in diverse industries. CoEs enhance development of regional clusters by contributing to their intellectual capital, innovation culture, value networks and social capital. The incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICT) creates VCoEs which provide added potential by enabling regions to expand their learning potential through innovation.

This paper provides a conceptual foundation for empirical research into regional network or cluster development using ICT.

VCoEs value creation potential is substantial but only when the socioeconomic elements of regional clusters are understood. The VCoE approach addresses the fact that without an industry focus it can be difficult to engage and link small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from different industries, although this is where the greatest potential for value creation in regional clusters is to be found.

The VCoEs concept specifically addresses the unique requirements of SMEs in regions. It has the potential to provide value for regions in a way few ICT based regional development initiatives have been able to achieve.

The aim of the paper is to explore the requirements of knowledge‐based management in the regional development network of the Tampere region in Finland.

The requirements of knowledge‐based management are analysed on the basis of the perceptions of the regional developers interviewed (n=13) and by using the extended SECI model and intellectual capital framework as analytical tools.

Different regions benefit from different knowledge‐based management activities according to their performance in the cycle of the extended SECI model and the intellectual capital available among the regional developers. When the knowledge‐based management requirements of a regional development network are identified by applying these two frameworks, more appropriate investments (e.g. for ICT infrastructure) and development activities can be made.

The perspectives of knowledge creation (i.e. the extended SECI model) and intellectual capital provide one approach for evaluating the call for knowledge‐based management of regional development. Other perspectives are also expected to be valuable as the understanding of regional knowledge‐based management in different contexts is enhanced.

The study contributes by proposing and applying a method for evaluating the requirements of regional knowledge‐based management.