Creative destruction and creative resilience: Restructuring of the Nokia dominated high‐tech sector in the Oulu region

The Oulu region, a globally recognized hub of mobile technology development in Northern Finland, provides a textbook example of how the various features of an innovation ecosystem can cause serious problems for regional development when a region faces a shock. The Oulu region is also an interesting...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Regional Science Policy & Practice
Main Authors: Jaakko Simonen, Johannes Herala, Rauli Svento
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12267
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Summary:The Oulu region, a globally recognized hub of mobile technology development in Northern Finland, provides a textbook example of how the various features of an innovation ecosystem can cause serious problems for regional development when a region faces a shock. The Oulu region is also an interesting example of how the effects of shock can be alleviated through creative actions and effective regional policy. In this paper, we develop a framework for analysing resilience using creativeness as the key element. We contribute to the literature by showing how this framework can be used in the operation and management of the regions hit by creative destruction types of shocks. We argue that the dynamic process that Oulu has gone through, in which obsolete and unproductive business activities have been replaced by new fields of technology and knowledge, can clearly be compared in many ways with Schumpeter's description of “creative destruction.” We call this dynamic process creative resilience. We identify three elements as the core of creative resilience; knowledge creation, entrepreneurship and community spirit. Our paper will show how they materialized in the Oulu region. La región de Oulu en el norte de Finlandia, un centro de desarrollo reconocido mundialmente vinculado a la tecnología de teléfonos celulares, constituye un ejemplo clásico de cómo las diversas características de un ecosistema de innovación pueden causar graves problemas para el desarrollo regional cuando una región se enfrenta a una conmoción. La región de Oulu es también un ejemplo interesante de la forma en que los efectos de las conmociones pueden aliviarse mediante medidas creativas y una política regional eficaz. En este documento se desarrolla un marco para analizar la resiliencia, partiendo de la creatividad como elemento clave. El artículo contribuye a la literatura mostrando cómo se puede utilizar este marco en el funcionamiento y la gestión de las regiones afectadas por conmociones de destrucción creativa. Se sostiene que el proceso ...