Biotech by bricolage? Agency, institutional relatedness and new path development in peripheral regions

This article develops a framework to understand new industrial path development in peripheral regions based on notions of 'bricolage' and 'institutional relatedness'. While the first stresses the agency of (heterogeneous) actors' resourcefulness and strategic improvisation co-shaping new industrial paths, the latter highlights the transposition of related institutional settings within regions to amplify (or to limit) the search space for new industries. These arguments are used in conjunction to explain the development of an unlikely biotechnology path in the Portuguese Centro region, analysed since its emergence and over a period of more than 10 years.