Unrelated knowledge combinations: the unexplored potential for regional industrial path development

Abstract

The article engages in a critical discussion of the related variety/regional branching argument and foregrounds a more differentiated perspective on regional industrial path development. It contributes by (i) sharpening the definition of key concepts, namely specialisation and diversity, related and unrelated variety; (ii) discussing their relevance in local and non-local spaces; (iii) scrutinizing related variety as the source for regional branching; and (iv) developing a conceptual framework capturing the opportunity space for regional structural change that unveils the relevance of path upgrading, path importation, path branching, path diversification and new path creation as different forms of new path development.