Territorial resilience on the aftermaths of COVID‐19 crisis—An exploratory analysis on the role of innovation

Abstract

This study examines the impact of different regional determinants on heterogeneous territorial resilience to the COVID‐19 crisis, highlighting the role of innovation, particularly the engagement of research and innovation (R&I) entities in networks with businesses. Two ordinary least squares (OLS) models were separately estimated for the resistance and the recovery phases, complemented by a multinomial logistic model, applied to test for a nonlinear relationship between R&I networks and territorial resilience. The results are robust concerning the positive influence on municipalities' resistance and recovery of having R&I entities collaborating in innovation consortia. Education, stability, and sectoral diversification of the local labor market are also essential for regions to be able to resist to the crisis but seem not important for recovery. Finally, international trade openness and pre‐crisis labor performance penalizes both resistance and recovery from downturns.