Technology, innovation, and regional economic development in the state of Victoria

There is now a considerable body of work arguing for the importance of industrial clusters, networks, and linkage to the process of innovation and economic dynamism. Increasingly, as well, this has been drawn on in a policy context with the aim of emulating high-growth/innovative localities. This paper presents a brief review of this work, emphasising the different theoretical and conceptual traditions on which it has drawn. It then presents a critical appraisal of the attempt of the State Government of Victoria, Australia, in the late 1980s and early 1990s to boost innovation and technologically advanced economic development by means of spatially focused 'Technology Precincts'. It looks at the origins, implementation, and aftermath of the initiative, noting both the contingent impacts of economic and political shifts on the initiative but also the more fundamental problems inherent in attempting to emulate high-profile international exemplars of successful industrial districts and spatially focused innovation.