Regional Technology Policies in the Old and New Länder of Germany

Abstract

Decentralizing trends in technology policy occur in the various regions of Europe to different degrees. National governments and history strongly influence the present political power of the regions of Europe and thus the environment of firms. In West Germany the relative autonomy of Länder gave them opportunities to implement their own technology policy at the end of the 1970s. Focusing on regional technology policies in one old Land, Baden-Württemberg, and one new Land, Thuringia, in Germany in the mid-1990s, three main questions are asked in this article. First, what are the objectives, actors, instruments and strategies of regional technology policies in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia and how much political autonomy do these Länder have to devise their own policies? Secondly, what are the effects of regional technology policies in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia on regional economic development? Thirdly, to what extent do regional technology policies in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia tackle specific regional economic problems ? The main conclusion is that both in Baden-Württemberg, a Land with a long tradition in technology policy and large economic problems, and in Thuringia, a new Land with an economy which suffered heavily from restructuring, regional technology policies have limited impacts on regional economies in transition.