Everything must change for us to remain the same. Resilience in the face of disruptive innovations in industrial districts

Abstract

This paper explores to what extent and under what conditions resilience can be developedto cope with disruptive innovations in the industrial district context. Based on an in-depth comparative analysis of two districts, this paper investigates the transformation that was undergone by these agglomerations of firms thanks to the introduction, development, and diffusion of disruptive technologies. Our findings identify the specific key actors involved during the different phases of the innovative process. Additionally, different measures of district resilience are proposed.