MagIC researcher Flávio L. Pinheiro was distinguished with the 2026 Regional Studies Best Paper Award, awarded by the Regional Studies Association, for the article “The Dark Side of the Geography of Innovation: Relatedness, Complexity and Regional Inequality in Europe”.

The awarded paper was co-authored with Pierre-Alexandre Balland, Ron Boschma, and Dominik Hartmann, and examines how innovation and economic diversification can contribute to regional inequality in Europe.

In this study, the authors analyze the economic diversification of 283 European regions across 32 countries over a 15-year period, using comprehensive data on patents and industries. The research shows that wealthy, high-complexity regions tend to diversify into new, high-complexity activities, while less-developed regions remain structurally closer to simpler, lower-complexity industries.

Because regions grow by building on the knowledge, capabilities, and activities they already have, this process can create a self-reinforcing feedback loop: more developed regions become increasingly complex, while lagging regions remain concentrated in simpler activities.

The paper identifies this dynamic as a “wicked problem” for innovation policy. Strategies designed to strengthen European innovation may disproportionately benefit already prosperous regions, deepening spatial inequality rather than reducing it.

The findings challenge core assumptions behind Europe’s Smart Specialization policies and call for targeted interventions that help peripheral regions escape low-complexity traps.

The work reflects MagIC’s contribution to research on innovation, complexity, and regional development, highlighting the role of data-driven approaches in supporting more informed and targeted innovation policies in Europe.