Drivers of industrial rejuvenation in UK and Portugal old industrial regions
Dr Jorge Martins on the RSA Early Career Grant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN8FTBZEP44
Over the last decades manufacturing in European regions has been exposed to intense global competition, particularly as a consequence of trade liberalisation. Regions with a high dependence on mass-manufacturing and old industrial regions (OIR) in particular, have been profoundly affected by these changes, calling into question the viability of some sectors and demanding transformation of others. In response to this challenge, this project aims at identifying the competitive foundations for industrial renewal of firms embedded in two European OIR – South Yorkshire (UKE3) and North Region of Portugal (PT11) – and the appropriate roles that regional networks might play in sustaining successful industry clusters. It will do so by:
- Identifying manifestations of industry rejuvenation in firms embedded in OIRs UK3 and PT11;
- Determining and conceptualising the trajectories exhibited by exemplar firms in the two regions;
- Determining how organisational capital and regional network capital support the development of those trajectories.