Low‐tech industry, regional innovation system and inter‐actor collaboration in Indonesia: The case of the Pekalongan batik industry.

A focus on high‐tech industries has neglected the potential of low‐tech industries in regional economic policy. This paper critically assesses the application of the concept of the regional innovation system (RIS) by exploring the processes through which government policy and inter‐actor collaboration facilitate low‐tech industrial growth and development. In doing so, we conduct a qualitative case study on the batik industry in Pekalongan, the largest batik‐producing city in Indonesia. The results show that national and local government policy frameworks have played a major role in facilitating formal and informal collaboration between research and education institutions and the batik industry in Pekalongan. These collaborations contribute to creating research and learning environments that are important conditions for local innovation and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]