Igniting sparks for the transition of a coal mining region: The role of firm- and system-level agency to innovate, diversify and create new growth paths in a regional innovation system

Global transitions to a low-emissions future pose structural, economic and societal challenges for regions heavily dependent on coal mining. Regional and firm-level inertia with a lack of diversification activities and an absence of innovation risks a trajectory of path dependence and negative lock-in. Integrating regional innovation systems and evolutionary economic geography perspectives, this study analyses a regional innovation system heavily dependent on the coal mining industry during a period of relative stability before a potential period of industrial and regional decline. Relying on a case study methodology, we illustrate innovation implicative dynamics of both the firm and system that reinforce or challenge the path dependence of the Mackay region in Queensland, Australia. By differentiating between firm- and broader system-level agency, we highlight that firm-level diversification and innovation activities prevail over system-level agency, so that it is the agency of individual firm actors that shows the potential to create new growth paths on the system level. We also illustrate a lack of pronounced system-level agency, suggesting the prevalence of obstacles for a regional transition away from coal mining. Our findings emphasise the importance of the role of visions and entrepreneurial orientation among firms to lay the groundwork for regional diversification and driving change. • We analyse a regional innovation system heavily dependent on coal mining. • We illustrate dynamics reinforcing or challenging reliance on the coal mining industry. • We highlight the agency of entrepreneurial firms to spark regional diversification.