The Impact of Endogenous and Exogenous Forces on Innovation: A Logical Analysis of Regional Innovation Systems in Central and Eastern Europe

Regional innovation became a mainstream topic in the modern development paradigm. This topic is especially relevant in the European Union (EU), given its developmental gap on the national and sub-national levels. The research considered testing four hypotheses, conceptualising the importance of endogenous and exogenous (regional) factors for the innovation process. The results revealed that Regional Innovation System and Global Production Networks (GPN) approaches could offer necessary models to interpret innovation performance in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Regional cooperation, institutional support, implementation of innovation policy, positive attitude towards competitors, and the implication of international partners embedded in the region in the innovation process showed a high degree of association with innovation. Additionally, various configurations of conditions highlighted many paths to achieve innovativeness by combining endogenous and exogenous parameters. This leads to the conclusion that the outcome's equifinality depends on the regional context and circumstantiality of conjunction between local and global forces.