“…This has given rise to a series of important studies, both theoretical and empirical (e.g., Refs. [12,20,22,24,35,55,75,78,89,99,121,128]) though, to date, "the problem of studying innovation and business effectiveness at the regional level has not yet been completely resolved" [98, p. 99]. Consequently, it is these questions, concerned with the universal fostering of innovation by way of the most effective (i.e., public and private) investment, adapted to each case, to reap the most benefits, in terms of employment and economic growth, which we will attempt to answer in the present work, for the case of European regions, starting for this purpose from an approach that combines different theoretical streams.…”