The Illusion of Universality in Innovation Policy and the Advocacy for Radical Localism.

I engage with the dominant view on limited need for modification when models are transmitted across regions in global innovation policy. Although the authors criticize the “one-size-fits-all” methodology and promote the idea of localized adaptation, I contend that a more profound shift is necessary — advocating for a model of radical localism, whereby regions should completely forsake standardized frameworks in preference for policies developed exclusively based on local needs, historical backgrounds, and socio-political contexts.

Consider for one moment the continued talk about “Silicon Valley” ecosystems as being the global gold standard. From Turkey to Tunisia, countries around the world try to emulate their own Silicon Valleys, but very often under the influence of international actors and delegations that have no more than one recipe for “success.” The problem, as Pfotenhauer (2023) makes clear, is that this often produces policies in contradiction to regional socio-cultural environments, such as Bavaria’s “conservative innovation culture,” which holds on to stability more than change. What could motivate Bavaria, Turkey, or Tunisia to pursue an imitation of the Silicon Valley paradigm of “disruption for the sake of growth” when their economic and social goals are very different?

Observations by Haddad (2021) on Mediterranean Arab countries confirm this idea. Policy imports, especially pressured ones from international aid organizations, fail in these countries because they do not respect the complex postcolonial identity and regional socio-political structures. These countries are encouraged to implement models which work well in the West without considering if they are relevant for decidedly different institutions. For instance, Haddad argues that science parks and technological clusters rarely succeed in Tunisia largely because their principles do not match the centralist form of government, and the limited role reserved for the private sector.

This goes beyond mere questions of compatibility; it reflects the colonial mentality still deeply ingrained within the policies of global innovation, which hold that the paradigm from the West is intrinsically superior and universally applicable.