THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY NETWORK ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

The network have involved members from NTNU, University of Oslo, University of Agder and University of Bergen, and associated individual members from other relevant geography teams in Norway. The secretariat of the network has been at UiB Bergen, supported by a steering committee with one member from each of the principal institutions. The overall aim of the network has been to support and strengthen research activities and volume of international publications within regional development and economic geography. This has been achieved through organizing and participation at various international conferences. Our objective has been to support this discipline, and through that secure recruitment and training at our respective institutions at all levels. PhD and in some cases master students have also been invited to join activities organized by the network. Activities: The kick off meeting of the network took place at Gardermoen 17.1. 2013 with 17 persons form the core institutions. We presented the research among the participants and discussed the expectations and the principles regarding the practical arrangements for the network. A session at the coming Nordic NGM conference in Iceland was planned. Our session at this event received 25 papers (from the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe) http://conference.hi.is/ngm2013/innovation-and-entrepreneurship-in-small-regions/ with contributions from researchers and PhD-candidates. Members from the steering committee have organised a special issue of Norwegian Journal of Geography with papers from Norwegian and foreign scholars. A member meeting at NGM included the planning of the application for a PhD-course. A website for our activities https://georeno.b.uib.no/ including information for the members, publications and other events organized by the network or others was launched in 2013. This platform has continuously been maintained by the secretariat. The network organized a PhD-course with 9 PhD students from Norway and abroad. This event was held at the NORSA (Nordic Section of Regional Studies Association) conference in Grimstad 15-16. Jan. 2015 with the topic: ?Reframing innovation and entrepreneurship beyond core regions.? A session was part of the AAG-conference in Tampa Florida in April 2014 labeled: Entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability" in collaboration with Department of geography at University in Bergen. This was well received with 10 presentations, of which 6 were from the network, in addition to international researchers with papers and other in the audience. The network invited members individually to participate at the RSA-conference spring 2015. A book with linkages to the network was initiated and has recently been published. Aure, M. Gunnerud Berg, N, Cruickshank, J og Dale, B. E. (2015red). Med Sans for sted. Fagbokforlaget. A «user/policy oriented event was organized at Gardermoen 19.11. 2015 titled: ?Economies and regional restructuring outside urban areas?. The event included 29 participants with about 50/50 academia and practitioners (regional and national public administration). A key note speech was given by professor Mats Lundmark, Ørebro University. Also 5 research based presentations from members of the network was given. Also a presentation from Innovasjon Norge, in addition to plenary discussions was part of the program. Vincent Fleischer from (Ministry of Local Government and Modernization) was appointed as the chair. The network has initiated a similar event Fall 2016. The steering committee has held SKYPE meetings and informed the members by newsletters and through the webpage. Some member meetings were also organized as part of conference events. For further information about our activities se https://georeno.b.uib.no/ The results achieved by the network. We have: 1) organized a session at the Nordic conference in Geography (NGM in Reykjavik in 2013, 2) a session at the AAG-conference in Tampa, Florida in 2014, 3) been involved in organizing the NORSA-conference in Agder with a PhD-course, 4) organized a seminar targeting practitioners and academia (national, regional level) at Gardermoen fall 2015. The network has also 5) disseminated research through organizing a special issue of Norwegian Journal of Geography, and 6) financially and academically contributed to a book within regional geography. The activities of the network has 7) included promotion through our webpages. The events organized by us have involved researchers from the network and internationally, PhD-students and in some fewer occasions also master students from our institutions and elsewhere. One of our seminars has also included participation from national and regional authorities. The network has contributed to strengthen the position of the discipline on national and international arenas. We find that we have fulfilled our plans detailed in our application.

This network will have particularly focus on research on entrepreneurship and innovation emphasizing structures, processes and effects in a regional context. This includes studies of industrial development, innovation and entrepreneurship in regions that are comparable small in an international perspective. That is regions with comparatively small populations, a small number of firms, a narrow industrial base, many SMEs with limited capacity and few knowledge organisations, which, as a consequence, do not have well-developed regional innovation systems. Firms in such regions may, for example, have to bring in necessary input factors from geographically distant sources more so than firms located in more densely populated regions with more a developed knowl edge and institutional base. This should also address issues concerning winning and losing regions as well as issues concerning industrial and regional development and planning, recruitment and mobility. An important contribution from this network is t o establish further cooperation with economic geographers in countries with comparatively small regions and resource based economies. This network including geographers with different theoretical backgrounds and research topics will represent a good basis opening up for new perspectives, theoretical reflections and fresh insights within and across teams. Knowledge of e-g. entrepreneurship and innovation processes based on the case of Norway can also be relevant for researchers and policy makers in other c omparable resource based economies such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, or countries that resemble Norway in size such as the other Nordic countries, the Baltics, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria to mention some. Neither should we neglect the fact t hat our topics are relevant outside the Western Economies. Meeting geographers through invitation of guest lectures and organizing sessions at international conferences, as well as being visible through internat