Regional Specializations in Green Incumbents and Green Start-ups in the German Transport Sector
(2025) In Growth and Change 56(1).- Abstract
The regional variety of actors is considered a key determinant in the last decade's rich literature on the geography of eco-innovation and green regional development. However, little is known about the extent to which regions differ in their specialization in new and established eco-innovation actors. In this article, we propose a regional typology based on green specializations concerning both incumbents and start-ups in the German transport sector. While many regions show green specializations in either start-ups or incumbents, only some regions manage to specialize in both. We find that the above-average regional specialization in eco-innovation does not seem to be primarily a phenomenon of urban areas, but rather depends on regions'... (More)
The regional variety of actors is considered a key determinant in the last decade's rich literature on the geography of eco-innovation and green regional development. However, little is known about the extent to which regions differ in their specialization in new and established eco-innovation actors. In this article, we propose a regional typology based on green specializations concerning both incumbents and start-ups in the German transport sector. While many regions show green specializations in either start-ups or incumbents, only some regions manage to specialize in both. We find that the above-average regional specialization in eco-innovation does not seem to be primarily a phenomenon of urban areas, but rather depends on regions' human capital endowments and technological capabilities. The observed heterogeneity in eco-innovation specializations, both in innovation centers and lagging regions, calls for regional policies that are more sensitive to these differences.
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- author
- Hansmeier, Hendrik ; Losacker, Sebastian LU ; Bersch, Johannes and Kroll, Henning
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-03
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- actors, eco-innovation, green regional development, incumbents, regional specialization, start-ups
- in
- Growth and Change
- volume
- 56
- issue
- 1
- article number
- e70025
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85218487959
- ISSN
- 0017-4815
- DOI
- 10.1111/grow.70025
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 88bed289-fa67-43ac-91e8-817bc4b0a093
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 11:08:29
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 11:09:08
@article{88bed289-fa67-43ac-91e8-817bc4b0a093,
abstract = {{<p>The regional variety of actors is considered a key determinant in the last decade's rich literature on the geography of eco-innovation and green regional development. However, little is known about the extent to which regions differ in their specialization in new and established eco-innovation actors. In this article, we propose a regional typology based on green specializations concerning both incumbents and start-ups in the German transport sector. While many regions show green specializations in either start-ups or incumbents, only some regions manage to specialize in both. We find that the above-average regional specialization in eco-innovation does not seem to be primarily a phenomenon of urban areas, but rather depends on regions' human capital endowments and technological capabilities. The observed heterogeneity in eco-innovation specializations, both in innovation centers and lagging regions, calls for regional policies that are more sensitive to these differences.</p>}},
author = {{Hansmeier, Hendrik and Losacker, Sebastian and Bersch, Johannes and Kroll, Henning}},
issn = {{0017-4815}},
keywords = {{actors; eco-innovation; green regional development; incumbents; regional specialization; start-ups}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Growth and Change}},
title = {{Regional Specializations in Green Incumbents and Green Start-ups in the German Transport Sector}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/grow.70025}},
doi = {{10.1111/grow.70025}},
volume = {{56}},
year = {{2025}},
}