A system perspective on innovation in the Norwegian dairy industry

Regional innovation systems (RIS) have made a considerable contribution on the one hand to a scientific understanding of how innovation occurs and on the other hand as a political tool for stimulation of regional development. The aim of the article is to illuminate this theoretical approach by discussing the role of regional innovation systems in promoting innovation in the dairy (meieri) industry in Norway, and further, by discussing regional consequences of the development of regional innovation systems. The main conclusion is that it is hard to find regional innovation systems within the dairy industry in Norway; the mainstream milk sector is nationally oriented. Within farm processing and a few ‘countercurrent’ dairy firms, however, a stronger relation to regional networks emerges. Development of regional innovation systems is a kind of endogenous development that presupposes there are local and regional resources available, which often is not the case. Hence, a one-sided commitment to regional innovation systems will result in regional disparities in economic growth. Varied strategies for innovation and for regional development can compensate for these disparities.