ABSTRACT
Cross–border regions face the challenge of moving towards a competitive position driven by innovation, increasingly regarded as the most important driver of economic growth (Lundquist and Trippl 2011). Geographical proximity can facilitate resource transfer and exchange within a region (Boschma 2005; Asheim et al. 2011). Although geographical proximity is relatively high in a cross-border region, the presence of a nation-state border acts as a barrier to cross-border interaction (Trippl 2010). This can potentially hamper these transfers and exchanges, and hence the build-up of regularities and the development of systemic innovation relations in the cross-border region. This chapter seeks to explore the little-researched topic of the role played by the border in cross-border regional innovation systems.
