The critical message of this book is that in the current context of global change, local and national territories have to upgrade their resilience in terms of improving both their competitiveness and capability to innovate. Localized creativity, small high-tech entrepreneurship, related innovation platforms, social capital embedded in dynamically open territorial communities and context-specific though continuously upgrading policy platforms are all means to face new challenges and to promote increased absorptive capacity within local and national territories. The contributors illustrate that these capabilities are much needed in the current globalized economy as a path towards sustainability and for creating new opportunities for their inhabitants. They analyze the challenges and development prospects of local/regional production systems internally, across territories, and in terms of their potential and territorial connectivity which can help exploit opportunities for proactive policy actions. This is increasingly relevant in the current climate, in which the balanced allocation of resources and opportunities, particularly for SMEs, cannot be expected to be the automatic result of the working of the market. Exploring conceptual and methodological aspects, and documenting original accounts of innovative territories, this book will be of great interest to academics, students and researchers within the fields of economics, industrial organization, and technology and innovation.Contributors: A. Amighini, C. Aragon, M.J. Aranguren, H. Bakhshi, P. Bianchi, A. Bravo-Biosca, F. Comptour, P. Cooke, J.R. Cuadrado-Roura, J.L. Curbelo, L. De Propris, M. Delgado, A. Eriksson, S. Franco Rodriguez, J.J. Gibaja Martins, P. Gratzke, C. Iturrioz, J. Karlsen, C. Ketels, S. Labory, M. Landabaso, M. Larrea, L. Lazzeretti, B. MacAulay, A. Murciego Alonso, M. Navarro Arancegui, M.D. Parrilli, M. Perlo Cohen, R. Rabellotti, A. Rodriguez-Pose, M. Sanfilippo, A. Saxenian, A. Vazquez Barquero, S. Westlake, J.R. Wilson, F. Zhang
