ABSTRACT
The regional dimension of innovation in a global competitive environment is attracting increased interest among both researchers and policy-makers as regional economies are recognised as ‘sites of the most advanced forms of economic development and innovation’ (Storper, 2003: 580). This chapter examines the recent emergence of the highly successful medical technology cluster in Galway, Ireland – now the biggest concentration of medical technology employment in Europe – in the context of the growing literature on industrial clusters, its further evolution as systems of innovation and the related emphasis on the role and ‘embeddedness’ of FDI in these systems at a regional level. The literature would suggest that regions are ‘synergy-laden’ systems whose innovative activity and capacity are determined largely by ‘the set of organisations and linkages present for the generation, diffusion and application of scientific and technological knowledge’ (Galli and Teubel, 1997: 345), which can position, or reposition, regions on specific technological trajectories.
