Industrial policy is back in vogue (Bailey et al., 2023; De Propris, 2024). At the macro-level, policymakers have emphasised the importance of (and begun to implement) so-called mission led industrial policies to meet societal challenges, such as climate change and the transition to net-zero technologies (Mazzucato, 2021). This is evident with the Biden administration in the USA; the Inflation Reduction Act (2022) and CHIPS & Science Act (2022) committed over $2 trillion of funding to support the US healthcare, renewables, and clean-tech sectors (Gansauer, 2024). The EU’s response is a $250 billion Green Deal Industrial Plan, and the by-passing of state-aid rules to fast-track investment and skills upgrading in green sectors. Procurement policies are also being re-geared to support domestic manufacturing. In the UK, the new ‘mission-driven’ government also has ambitions for green technologies, to encourage greater resilience, and ensure security of supply in manufacturing supply chains ‘securonomics’ (The Financial Times, 21/5/24).
While these policies are touted as ‘mission led’, there are concerns the interventions represent a new era of protectionist trade policies, which are likely to have disruptive and displacement effects – with winners and losers – that play out at regional levels. There are also fears that mission-led policies are top-down (Henderson et al., 2023), highly selective, technology-policy focused, with insufficient consideration of differential regional impacts. Regions with existing capabilities, enhanced knowledge bases, skillsets and specialisms, and business and social networks may be in a better position to benefit from ‘mission-led’ initiatives. This will have implications for addressing (existing) regional inequalities. Local policymakers and place leaders will need to adjust place-based policies to ensure their region can take advantage of central government initiatives. Balancing efficiency and equity in the design and implementation of mission-led policy presents national and regional policymakers with significant challenges. Yet knowledge of the socio-economic regional impacts of mission-led policies are lacking and, as such, are typically ignored in national policy discourses.
These contemporary and salient issues are underexplored in the regional studies literature. This special issue seeks to explore these, (and related) issues through a collection of papers that consider how regions and regional policymakers can better align their place-based policy agendas to deliver regional development within the wider social and economic contexts of the new ‘mission-led’ industrial policies pursued by national and supranational states. The collection will draw on a mix of studies that can inform better place-based policymaking and placemaking. We welcome papers from anywhere across the globe where ‘mission-led’ policies are being pursued and crucially, their regional implications.
We are interested in papers that address the following (non-exhaustive) topics:
- Mission-led approaches to sustainability transitions, and their implication for and upon regions.
- Mission-led approaches to digital transitions to tackle regional and local digital divides.
- Tensions between mission-led policies that prioritise leading technologies and sectors and place-based policies to reduce regional inequalities.
- The regional implications of nationally focused mission-led policies (and ‘securonomics’) undertaken by major economies (i.e., US, EU, UK, China) for global supply chain resilience, manufacturing rebuilding and technology security.
- What multi-level institutional and governance arrangements (local, regional, national, and supra-national) are needed for the effective implementation of mission-led policies?
- The contradictions and compatibilities of regional and national policymaking under mission-led approaches, and their implications for inclusive regional development.
- The implications of mission-led policies for clusters and regional innovation ecosystems.
- The capabilities and constraints of ‘left behind’ regions (industrial, rural and coastal) to participate in and benefit from mission-led policies in the context of reducing regional inequalities.
- Demand-side perspectives on mission-led policy and regional impacts.
We invite submissions from researchers in the fields of regional studies, economic geography, industrial and regional policy, and related fields. Conceptual, theoretical and empirical submissions – qualitative and quantitative are welcome, as well as case studies from different regions/cities and contexts.
References
Bailey, D., Pitelis, C. N., & Tomlinson, P. R. (2023). ‘Place-Based Industrial and Regional Strategy – Levelling the Playing Field’. Regional Studies, 57(6), 977-983. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2023.2168260
De Propris, L. (2024). Globalisation must work for as many regions as possible. Regional Studies, 58(7), 1505–1508. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2024.2330618
Financial Times (21/5/24) ‘Labour sets out ‘securonomics’ vision to avoid inflationary shocks’, Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/15d6a761-4efe-4ac8-ba51-4ee2a6095304
Gansauer, G (2024) ‘For growth or equity: A taxonomy of ‘Bidenomics’ place-based policies and implications for US regional inequality’, Regional Studies
Henderson, D., Morgan, K., & Delbridge, R. (2023). Putting missions in their place: micro-missions and the role of universities in delivering challenge-led innovation. Regional Studies, 58(1), 208–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2023.2176840
Mazzucato, M (2021) Mission Economy: a moonshoot guide to changing capitalism, Allen Lane – Penguin, London
Submission Instructions
Authors interested in publishing in the special issue should email an abstract of approximately 500 words to Felicia Fai (F.M.Fai@bath.ac.uk) by the 31st January 2025, and after the first screening, the decision on abstract acceptance will be released by 28th February 2025.
Full manuscripts should be received by 30th June 2025 for review and should be submitted via the journal’s online submission system. Please select the special issue title on submission. All submissions are subject to the journal’s usual, full peer review process.
The guest editors intend to host a Special Session at the RSA 2025 conference in Porto between 6th-9th May 2025, where draft papers can be presented and discussed. It should be noted, however, that invitations to the RSA Conference Special Session does not guarantee a paper’s acceptance to the special issue.