EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING THE DYNAMICS OF FIRM INNOVATION

Resumo

The contemporary economic environment recognizes technological change as a phenomenon that results from the relations among actors and from the arrangement of firms and institutions within a territory, conferring on it an active, rather than passive, role. Innovative industrial agglomerations emerge from the ongoing exchange of knowledge, tightly linked to collaborative networks and to local institutional contexts. The evolutionary approach to economic geography emphasizes that the experiences and accumulated competencies shape the present and the future of space, driving competitive transformations. The objective of this study is to discuss theoretically the distinct approaches of Economic Geography and to present Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) as an alternative to the classical models in the regional literature. To this end, a historical-analytical bibliographic research was conducted, based on the identification, systematic reading, and critical interpretation of contemporary articles and books, in order to recover the conceptual and theoretical evolution of the field. EEG stands out as a theoretical framework that allows analyzing how territorial practices, collective learning, and institutional interactions shape the evolutionary trajectory of economies, stimulating innovation and technological adaptation. It is concluded that this perspective offers a solid basis for understanding regional economic and technological changes, as well as assisting in the interpretation of competitive transformations in specific environments.