Regional growth theories and high-tech regions

Traditional location theories, especially those of a static nature, are not able to offer a consistent explanation for the spatial behaviour of high-tech industries. The same is true at the regional level and for most of the well-known regional growth theories. Due to the great attention paid to high-tech products, industries and regions, regional scientists have developed new approaches to explain regional high tech growth. The author investigates and compares four of the most important theories: the regional variant of the product cycle hypothesis, the theory of long waves, the milieu and network approach, and the theory of flexible production as applied to industrial districts. The assessment is based on the author's field trips to ten high-tech regions in five industrialized countries, and on interviews with about fifty experts in those regions. The article reveals that a single approach alone is not adequate to explain high-tech regions and that an 'eclectic' theory would produce the best results.