Good institutions and high quality of governance are generally considered to be prerequisites for economic growth and other positive socio-economic outcomes. This is due to their role in framing decisions by agents, including policymakers, business owners or individuals. Despite the many theoretical and empirical contributions to their study, we argue that three elements deserve further attention. First is the importance of avoiding simplistic dichotomies between good vs bad institutions, a classification that obscures as much as it reveals. Second is the need to take more seriously the multi-scalar nature of institutions, particularly when studying regional policy. Third is the balance between structure and agency, which avoids deterministic readings of underdevelopment. We develop these three elements with four case studies of European regions and conclude that the scale and scope of their innovation policies is limited by nation-states and the European Union. Nonetheless, agents can (and do) mobilise to improve governance, even when operating under restrictive conditions.

良好的制度和高质量的治理通常被认为是经济增长和其他积极社会经济成果的先决条件。这是由于他们在制定代理人（包括政策制定者、企业主或个人）决策中的作用。尽管他们的研究有许多理论和实证贡献，但我们认为三个要素值得进一步关注。首先是避免好与坏机构之间简单化的二分法的重要性，这种分类既模糊又揭示。其次是需要更认真地对待制度的多尺度性质，尤其是在研究区域政策时。第三是结构和能动性之间的平衡，这避免了对不发达的确定性解读。我们通过对欧洲地区的四个案例研究来发展这三个要素，并得出结论，他们的创新政策的规模和范围受到民族国家和欧盟的限制。尽管如此，代理人可以（并且确实）动员起来改善治理，即使在限制条件下运作也是如此。