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Paper short abstract

The proposed paper compares semiconductor innovation ecosystems in three European national contexts, finding, beside expected differences, striking indications of a ‘Silicon Isomorphism’ which provides insights into the potential and limitations of reproducing Silicon Valley elsewhere.

Paper long abstract

Much of current innovation policy aims at creating the ‘Silicon Valleys of tomorrow.’ These places are often characterized as (regional) innovation ecosystems. Innovation ecosystems tend to be researched from a managerial or policy perspective, with a focus on how decision-making can enhance the ability to produce economic value or to deliver on policy aims like technology sovereignty. Countering positivist assumptions made in such accounts, innovation studies have recently taken a cultural turn, pursuing a situated understanding of the bottom-up dynamics undergirding innovation.

Following this turn, the proposed paper traces how likening certain places to Silicon Valley configures innovation. It draws on an ongoing (December 2025 – November 2026) comparison of Silicon Saxony (Dresden, GER), Silicon Fen (Cambridge, UK) and the emerging Silicon Valley of Health and Food (Gelderland, NL) in terms of their respective geographies, histories, governance structures, cultures, economic structures, political regimes and technological foci. Despite significant differences between the cases, specific institutional forms and imaginaries of innovation remain characteristically convergent.

To understand this convergence-in-divergence, we coin the concept of Silicon Isomorphism, a tendency by researchers, industry, and professional organizations to enact limited expectations about what ‘good’ innovation looks like, by what means it should be promoted by whom and on whose behalf. Silicon Isomorphism highlights both similarities and distinctive features of cross-border model transfer in innovation ecosystems, taking into consideration their specific socio-technical infrastructuration. These insights into the potential and limitations of policies imitating Silicon Valley elsewhere can inform strategies for developing regional innovation ecosystems.