Resumo

The study of innovation and other possible determinants of regional resilience allows us to understand how decision-making in organizations is related to the response of territories to shocks. To elucidate the relationship between innovation and regional resilience, it is worth investigating where the production of scientific knowledge is located. Although systematic literature reviews on regional resilience have already been carried out (e.g. Miranda & Hoffmann, 2021), there are no systematic reviews addressing specifically regional resilience and innovation.

We ask: what are the characteristics of studies on innovation and regional economic resilience, considering methods and empirical findings? So, this article aimed to characterize the studies on innovation and regional resilience, considering methods and empirical findings.

Studying regional resilience means conceiving that economic development is a process subject to shocks or disturbances and that it occurs unevenly across regions (Martin & Sunley, 2015). With just over a decade of research on regional resilience, there is still no consensus on the relationship between innovative territories and resilience. This relationship does not comprise a simple causality and requires elucidation (Bristow & Healy, 2018), benefiting from a deeper and less comprehensive investigation.

A systematic review was carried out, based on Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases, considering 47 theoretical-empirical papers. After defining the research problem, the following steps were taken: (i) data collection and screening; (ii) data analysis; and (iii) description of results. Data were analyzed by using both R language packages and categories for the methodological typification of theoretical-empirical papers.

Two research profiles were identified. The first one is comprised of quantitative research, from secondary sources and multivariate analyses, focused mainly on the study of innovation as a predictor of regional resilience. While there are results of positive association between them, other studies have reported that the most innovative territories are not necessarily the most resilient ones in the short term. The second profile is comprised of qualitative or multimethod research, focused on deeper analyzing the regional resilience process.

It is concluded that the relationship between innovation and regional resilience should not be taken for granted, especially in the short term. The lack of a consensual concept for regional economic resilience, combined with divergences in the literature about innovation as a determinant of resilience, and given the concentration of studies on one type of shock and in limited regions, suggest that there are still gaps in research.

Bristow, G., & Healy, A. (2018). Innovation and regional economic resilience: an exploratory analysis. Annals of Regional Science, 60(2), 265–284. Martin, R., & Sunley, P. (2015). On the notion of regional economic resilience: conceptualization and explanation. Journal of Economic Geography, 15(1), 1–42. Miranda, N. da S., Jr., & Hoffmann, V. E. (2021). Regional resilience: a bibliometric study from the Web of Science. Gestão & Regionalidade, 37(111), 23–41.