The role of public authorities in supporting regional innovation ecosystems: the cases of San Diego and Boston regions (USA)

The EU has recently recognised the crucial role of public authorities in promoting the interfaces between innovation actors in order to orchestrate regional innovation ecosystems (EU CoR, 2016). This paper aims to contribute to the body of knowledge of regional innovation policy-making by analysing the role that has been performed by the U.S. public sector in boosting two successful innovation ecosystems, namely the Life Science Clusters of San Diego (CA) and Boston (MA). By adopting a policy monitoring methodology, the paper breaks-down the different policy inputs and processes delivered by the public sector, targeting the two Life Science clusters. We conclude that both the public authorities of Boston and San Diego regions have been pushing for the life science industry agglomeration from an urban planning perspective, while they have been adopting different approaches in promoting the interface between innovation actors. In Boston, the public authorities actively intervene in fostering collaboration and co-creation between the several life science-related firms, through the Mass Life Science Center. In San Diego, the public authorities allow the life science ecosystem to self-organize, leaving the orchestration role to not-for-profit organizations, such as CONNECT and BIOCOM