The world's leading experts contribute to our understanding of regional innovation, cluster formation and the factors that influence regional productivity and innovative performance. The text improves our understanding of the reasons why, how and where innovation clusters emerge, as well as the factors that determine their respective success or failure. In doing so, it provides a timely and comprehensive picture on innovation, location, networks and clusters as important means in an environment of intensifying interregional competition. The book is written for professional researchers as well as for students and practitioners in politics, business and consultancy.

The world's leading experts contribute to our understanding of regional innovation, cluster formation and the factors that influence regional productivity and innovative performance. The text improves our understanding of the reasons why, how and where innovation clusters emerge, as well as the factors that determine their respective success or failure. In doing so, it provides a timely and comprehensive picture on innovation, location, networks and clusters as important means in an environment of intensifying interregional competition. The book is written for professional researchers as well as for students and practitioners in politics, business and consultancy.

Within the broad frame of regional research in an international perspective, the contributions of this volume present new theoretical, methodological and empirical results as well as political strategies for the following topics:
- ecomomic integration in the Baltic rim,
- innovation and regional growth,
- economic integration, trade and migration,
- transport infrastructure and the regions.
Most of the topics deal with the long-term integration process in Europe, with a particular focus on the North European and Baltic Sea integration.