Beyond clusters? Field configuration and regional platforming: the Aviation Valley initiative in the Polish Podkarpackie region

Abstract

By combining the two emerging discourses on regional development platforms and field configuration, the study develops a novel perspective on regional transformation. This will be achieved through tracing self-reinforcing or counterbalancing events of a regional initiative and contextualising them within the trajectory of the Podkarpackie region in Southeast Poland, which intends to convert from a low-cost workbench towards an innovative centre. The results show that the regional policy in Podkarpackie underwent a transformation from a conventional cluster initiative towards smart specialisation and is now moving to something that might be referred to as ‘(smart) diversification’ in the future.