No abstract

Innovative milieu is an elusive networking scheme established within geospatial, socio-economic, institutional, and knowledge types of boundaries that enable the actors involved to excel in particular field(s) of activity. Generally these are high-tech sectors of the economy, the so called smart and creative industries that are highly reliant on human capital, knowledge, and competences. Gradual expansion of interregional and international ties increases the possibility for synergies, fostering network diversification and intra-regional overspecialisation all at the same time. Along with numerous positive externalities, such as avoidance of the cognitive lock-in effect, regional clusters of excellence become dependent on their external counterparts, either within national or international domain. This dependence is caused by utilization of shared science and technology facilities, interdependent production processes, complementary technologies, etc. Unforeseen circumstances, such as temporal economic sanctions and product embargo can affect the sustainability of the innovation activity in the region and create structural holes along the value chain. Regional innovation policy should account for possible threats to the regional as well as national innovation systems. In this paper we examine different scenarios for the development of innovative milieus across borders. The study draws upon cross-border cooperation initiatives of European border regions, featuring brief case study examples for each of the negative development scenarios identified. There are three major types of threats to innovation security of a border region determined: a) disintegration and decay, b) internal asymmetries, c) unilateral integration initiatives. The article concludes with policy recommendations on innovation security strategy for the borderland regions.

Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f TTo ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year X

No abstract

Rural areas and peripheral borderland territories are experiencing socio-economic marginalization featuring depopulation, population aging, and an increasing inequality gap in the quality of life compared to cities. Integrated rural tourism is argued to be ideal for supporting the well-being of rural communities, providing an additional income, decreasing unemployment, offering new and appealing jobs out of traditional rural activities, while preserving the conventional lifestyle. In this study, we discovered the tourism capacity of rural borderland territories affected by cross-border tourism using the data on the geography of cross-border movements, the distribution of tourist sights, and the density of tourist accommodation facilities. The geographical scope of the study covered two cross-border coastal regions—the Russian–Polish region on the Baltic Sea and the Russian–Kazakh region on the Caspian Sea. The statistical and geoinformation analysis were used to allocate areas of prospecting rural tourism integrated with cross-border movement. The research results on the development and distribution of tourist infrastructure suggest that: the rural territories of these regions feature tourist attractions and accommodation facilities at a different level of density and remoteness from the border crossing; each cross-border region is featuring different types of travel restrictions for tourists; and both border-land territories show asymmetry by the more active Russian tourists traveling abroad. Each of the regions under consideration is attractive for cross-border tourism while having different degrees of penetration of tourist flows into the interior territories and coverage of rural areas. The study resulted in a tourist flow model that allows integrating rural areas.