Beyond clusters: the implications of life science commodity chains for less-favoured regions

British regional policy has emphasised 'locally-bounded' innovation processes dependent upon regional knowledge bases, downplaying the role of global inter-linkages and inter-dependencies. Consequently, regional policy tends to stress the importance of endogenous capacity through the promotion of regional specialisation and competitiveness by constituting the region as the site of innovation drawing on the social, institutional and knowledge assets that are spatially embedded in particular places. These regions are seen as simultaneously competing in the global economy, although the focus on the concentration of innovation processes obscures the distribution of knowledge across regions and countries in the globalising, knowledge economy.This research project is designed to address these issues by using global commodity chain and global production network approaches to explore the life sciences industry in a less-favoured region (Scotland) where the policy emphasis on local capabilities and capacities raises a number of concerns. In particular, it will consider how innovation processes and knowledge operate across different locations and especially how they are both concentrated and dispersed throughout the commodity chain. Thus it will question why certain places are less 'successful' at attracting and embedding such processes than others, especially less-favoured regions suffering from the effects of industrial restructuring and uneven development.