'The golden thread of innovation' and Northern Ireland's evolving regional innovation system

The title embodies the belief, expressed in 2000 by Northern Ireland's Economic Development Minister, Sir Reg Empey, that innovation is the 'golden thread' that must run through its economy and policy for the hitherto troubled part of the UK to recover its historic economic dynamism. The paper reports a study of Northern Ireland's innovation performance in light of comparative data and through the lens of the regional innovation systems approach to analysis and strategy. It is shown that business expenditure on innovation inputs like R&D has risen, but that a long ' tail' of innovation under-achievers remains evident. Three categories of firm are shown to be innovative and these are swiftly developing systemic interaction with a support infrastructure led by venture capital that is agile in meeting growth requirements of indigenous innovators, thereby setting a standard that public support agencies are being urged to emulate in a new strategic approach to regional innovation.