Resumen de Creativity and regional innovation: : Evidence from EU regions

Leo Sleuwaegen, Priscilla Boiardi

• We analyse the role of creative workers in the region as a source and foundational element of regional innovation in the European Union. We show the empirical relevance of this factor � which we label inspiration � within the structure of a recursive model of regional innovation for a set of 83 European regions. We show that, when differentiated from the presence of regional intelligence � as measured by the availability of human capital � and from technological infrastructure, inspiration, along with the degree of development of national and regional institutions, has the strongest direct and indirect effects on regional patenting activity.