Regional Studies Association Research Network on Knowledge, Innovation and Regional Development in South America (KIRDSA)

Research Network summary

This research network aims to promote research on regional development in South America, focused on knowledge flows and innovation capabilities. Knowledge capabilities are unevenly distributed within national and subnational territories in South America, a region characterized by a peripheral but significant role in the global production of knowledge. These countries have a rich background of research in this field, associated with urban development, production agglomerations, emigration fluxes, and the role of universities, among others. It is highly relevant to articulate research activities aiming to advance our understanding of the regional development processes which promote knowledge creation and improve access to global knowledge flows. This network aims to contribute to facing these challenges by producing relevant evidence and discussing it with policymakers.

Aims and ambitions of the Research Network

Aims and objectives
This Research Network is the first regional development research network in South America, with all the challenges and opportunities that this implies. First, the territorial dimension is particularly relevant. South America has been widely identified as an economic and cultural unit (Cimoli and Katz, 2003; Bértola and Ocampo, 2012). These countries share patterns of economic specialisations, macroeconomic constraints, and a strong heterogeneity within each country. In addition, there are common practical aspects of research, such as the university tradition and some restrictions on access to funding and databases (Arocena and Sutz, 2001; Sutz, 2003; Dutrénit and Arza, 2010). In this sense, research can be enriched through exchange within the network The network aims to bring together regional sciences researchers interested in regional development in South America, working in South American countries or abroad. It is expected to integrate different geographical perspectives: local level, interaction to national specific contexts, and a continental perspective. South America has historically characterized by an heterogeneous development. In this sense, previous experience of members and speakers have shown the relevance of the national and subnational context to understand the process of knowledge creation, innovation and entrepreneurship (e.g. Rapini et al., 2009; Yoguel et al., 2009; Porras-Paez & Schmutzler, 2019; Britto et al., 2020; Ferraz et al., 2020; Galaso & Rodríguez Miranda, 2021; Bianchi et al., 2021).

Proposed plan of events and activities 
The network will organize seminars and conferences, with the participation of leading researchers in the field, promoting the discussion of relevant research results to the network’s objectives. In addition, it is expected to coordinate some activities with the RSA Latin-American division. Moreover, these events will promote the integration of researchers who do not belong to the RSA, to invite them to become part of the network and enrich it. These activities will integrate policymakers’ roundtables, aiming to promote the discussion of the research findings as potential policy inputs. In addition to these academic meetings, the network will organize training workshops on data analysis. These workshops will focus on the challenges posed by the availability of comparable regional data due to the lack of statistics at the supranational level. Finally, the network will promote special roundtables at the regular meetings of the RSA, focused on the network’s thematic area.

Upcoming events

EMPOWERING KNOWLEDGE FLOWS AND COLLABORATION NETWORKS,

International Conference on Regional Development in South America

February 8-9, 2024, Montevideo, Uruguay 

In-person with live streaming

Organized by RSA KIRDSA Network, with the support of Universidad de la República and the Young Scholar Initiative.

Keynote speaker & activities

• Keynote speaker confirmed: Ron Boschma, Professor in Regional Economics (Utrecht University) and Innovation Studies (University of Stavanger)
• Paper development workshop:  Jana Schmutzler
• Round table with policymakers:  José Borello
• Paper presentation sessions
• Young Scholar Initiative special session
• Book proposal based on the papers presented in the RSA Routledge Regions and Cities Book Series      Book proposal KIRDSA
• Conference activities: parallel sessions, keynote plenaries, round table with policy makers and a paper development workshop.

Call for applications

This conference aims to bring together researchers studying the creation and dissemination of knowledge in the South American context and development processes with a territorial
approach in the region’s countries. We welcome contributions that are related, but not exclusively, to the following topics:
• Innovation and development in territories specializing in extractive industries.
• Interaction and collaboration networks in innovation processes of South America
• Relatedness, productive specialization and technological diversification in South American regions
• Local development, clusters and industrial districts in the context of South American countries
• Environmental challenges and green transitions in South American regions
• Migration, brain drain and brain circulation in South America
• Cities as poles of development, innovation and inequality in South America
• Global Value Chains, knowledge flows and diversification opportunities in South America cities.
• Gender gaps in science, technology and innovation, causal factors at the regional level.

We welcome contributions with theoretical focus, methodological innovations and/ or with implications for the design of public policies for innovation and regional development
in South American countries. Upload your contribution here: https://bit.ly/kirdsa
• Extended abstracts: max 2500 words. References, figures and/or tables that are not considered in the word count.
• Full papers (optional): max 8000 word

Important dates

• June 20th: Submission for abstracts (and papers) Start
• October 15th: Submission for abstracts (and papers) End
• October 20th: Notification of acceptance

Registration & financial support

There is no registration fee. Thanks to Regional Studies Association (RSA), funds are available to partially finance travel and accommodation of RSA members. In addition, the Urban and Regional Economics Working Group of the Young Scholar Initiative (YSI) – Institute of New Economic Thinking (INET) encourages and supports Young Scholars (Students/ Early Career). Partial travel and accommodation funds are available. If you apply for the YSI session, please specify in your submission. Conference proceedings will be published online including ISBN(optional) Considering the international characteristic of the network, we use English for written communication, but submissions and presentations can be delivered in English, Spanish or Portuguese.

Organizing committee

• Andrea Belmartino (Gran Sasso Science Institute – Italy)
• Pablo Galaso (Universidad de la República – Uruguay)
• Sergio Palomeque (Universidad de la República – Uruguay)
• Contact – kirdsa.rsa@gmail.com

Scientific committee

• Carlos Bianchi (Universidad de la República – Uruguay)
• Adrián Rodríguez Miranda (Universidad de la República – Uruguay)
• Cecilia Tomassini (Universidad de la República – Uruguay)
• José Borello (Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento – Argentina)
• Daniela Calá (Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata – Argentina)
• Andrés Niembro (Universidad Nacional de Río Negro – Argentina)
• Igor Tupy (Universidade Federal de Viçosa – Brazil).

Click here for more information.

Click here to register.

Future planned events

2024

• RSA Annual Conference, Open Special Session: Transitions in South America: between the need for a just transition approach and the potential of twin transition. June 2024.
• Workshop 2: Introduction to SNA using R and igraph, with applications to the regional studies. Online, September 2024.
• Seminar/Conference 2: Recent developments in regional studies for South America. The road ahead. Florianopolis (with streaming), December 2024.

Past events

RSA Annual Conference (in-person and online), Open Special Sessions: South American Regions Facing Global Knowledge Flows: Challenges and Development Opportunities, 16th June 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia

This special session aimed to reflect and present evidence on challenges and development opportunities in South American regions facing global knowledge flows. Despite the heterogeneity of the continent, South American regions have shared features that critically affect their development trajectories in economics and social dimension. The shared specialisation patterns and macroeconomic constraints allow comparison between the economies in the target regions. Moreover, educational challenges and demographic transformations permeate the development agenda in countries and regions in South America. In this context, building local capacities to produce and access advanced knowledge has been recognised as necessary to conduct structural transformations, which allow sustainable and inclusive development. This uniqueness of the South American regions highlights the need for a shared space to discuss issues inherent to their development path. However, this discussion must be open to exchange and learn of other regions in the Global South which address similar development challenges that South American economies.

The session had 8 presenters from 4 countries.

• Miguel Angel Marafuschi Phillips: Development of Local Administrative Systems for Argentinean Universities. Challenges and Achievements in the Process of Implementing SUDOCU at UNLP
• Italo Spinelli Da Cruz: Difference in Educational Performance between Students from Rural and Urban Areas in Brazil: An Unconditional Quantile Analysis
• Pablo Galaso: Dual Clusters in Dual Economies: Understanding Innovation in Clusters of Developing Countries
• Sergio Palomeque: Skills Relatedness and Technological Diversification
• Igor Tupy: New Path Creation Facing the Resource Curse: Evidence on Relatedness and Productive Diversification from Brazilian Extractive Regions.
• Ledys Franco: New Path Development or Simply reinforcing the Extractavist Path? The Bioceanic Road Corridor and Potential Implications for Peripheral Regions Development
• Sören Scholvin : The Internationalization of Argentinean Service Providers: A Comparison of Globant and Mercado Libre
• Andrea Belmartino: Green Product Diversification in Argentina: A Challenge for all, but an Opportunity for whom?

After the main selection process of the RSA Conference 2023, we evaluate their alignment with the themes and topics of the special session. Indeed, all the contributions were spatially focus on South American economies, also facilitating a fruitful discussion. We group them into two sessions according to their specific topic and/or empirical approach. In addition, before the session, we assigned one discussant for each presentation.

Following the conclusion of the special session, we seized the opportunity to announce and introduce the upcoming KIRDSA-RSA event. Leveraging the presence of conference attendees, we effectively disseminated and elucidated the event’s objectives.

The special session marked a significant milestone for KIRDSA, as it provided us with the opportunity for our inaugural in-person gathering since the network’s beginning. The papers presented, and the vibrant exchange of ideas during the session underscored the pressing necessity for a platform dedicated to deliberating on regional development from a distinctly South American standpoint.

Professional Development RSA Webinar: Using Patent Data from USPTO to Study Collaboration Networks. Applications for Research in Latin American Countries.
Wednesday 6th September 2023