Applying instruments for regional innovation – generating projects or legitimacy?

Legitimacy has been a marginal topic in regional innovation literature. This paper aims to describe a regional innovation initiative in institutionalist legitimacy terms, show how this leads to a diagnosis of the situation and show how this diagnosis opens for designing better targeted interventions. Taking such a legitimacy perspective opens new trajectories for research. The present study also suggests that applying a legitimacy perspective opens up for normative issues regarding wider participation in regional innovation programmes. This paper will be of particular value for researchers and practitioners working in the field of regional innovation and network development, but also for those with a special interest in institutional theory.