Philip Cooke is Professor at the Centre of Innovation at West University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway. He is an official advisor to the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development and his research interests lie in studies of regional innovation systems, knowledge economies, entrepreneurship, clusters and networks.Luciana Lazzeretti is Professor in Economics and Management at the University of Florence, Italy. She is scientific coordinator of the Doctorate Programme in ‘Development Economics and Local Systems’ of the University of Florence and Trento.