Industrial Policy Meets Regional Development: The Geography of Strategic Industrial Ambitions

The concept of Strategic Regional Path Development helps us understand how today’s industrial policies unfold in place. Bromont illustrates both the opportunities and pitfalls: a small town thrust into the global semiconductor race, mobilised to serve national sovereignty ambitions, and narrated as a regional development success. Industrial policy always takes place somewhere, and the politics of place matter. Narratives of regional development can align actors, but unless they are matched with meaningful coordination and local engagement, the long-term regional benefits of strategic industrial ambitions remain uncertain.