Some resource-based economies become wealthy while others stay poor and Norway belongs to the first category. This paper argues that part of the answer to why Norway has managed to benefit from its rich natural resources is found in the formation of a well-functioning national innovation system. The paper integrates the innovation system approach with a historical approach through the concept of co-evolution. The empirical study investigates how innovation systems evolve in natural resource industries through analysing the co-evolution between industry, knowledge organisations and national policy in the Norwegian aluminium and petroleum sectors. Parallels are found in the development of these two sectors, which are: i) the deliberate use of concession laws to seize value creation and technological development from foreign direct investments, ii) the establishment and prioritisation of state-owned companies and iii) the more or less intentional formation of a national innovation system. The paper points to the relevance of analysing the historical evolution of national innovation systems to understand the creation of their specific path-dependent characteristics, to analyse how policy influences the creation and working of innovation systems, to use a multilevel approach in studies of innovation systems and to consider how innovation processes in different industries are linked in value chains and through knowledge flows.2

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This paper describes the change in a researcher's practices from one of studying regional industrial development at a distance to one of working closely with a network of agri-food managers. This is accompanied by a discussion of the methodological and theoretical possibilities for an action research inspired economic geography. Some of the core characteristics of a pragmatic conceptualization of action research are revised. It is argued that theoretical developments within economic geography make possible a dialogue between researchers and local actors and that economic geography is challenged to accept that knowledge is generated through such a dialogue. Attempts to create a dialogue between action research and economic geography in a specific Norwegian industrial and geographical context are described. These attempts indicate that the researcher's methodological approach has been transformed from a narrow one relying solely on conventional social science methods to a broader one including participatory action research.