Peripheries, Mobilities and e-Technologies: The Rise of Regional Social Network Policies

Patrick Rérat, Hugues Jeannerat
2014 DISP  
The mobility of highly qualified peo-ple is a major issue for regional development and represents a matter of particular concern for peripheral regions, which tend to be char-acterized by the out-migration of their gradu-ates (brain drain). While regional policies have traditionally focused on the labor market and framework conditions in order to foster terri-torial development, a new kind of instrument is emerging: the regional social network. This approach to policymaking no longer consid-ers
more » ... highly qualified people leaving their home region as a loss, but sees them as potential re-sources to be mobilized and capitalized at a distance. Based on six case studies, this paper elaborates a typology of regional social net-works and analyzes their governance and man-agement. It situates this new approach in a more general debate on regional innovation policies with regard to the specific needs of peripheral regions in a time of growing spatial mobility and the ubiquitous use of etechnologies.
doi:10.1080/02513625.2014.926723 fatcat:bgvehrxb7vd5vg4kvlz7b3kmie