Directing regional industries towards sustainability: a study of Scotland's space industry

This paper illuminates the ways emergent regional industries can be guided towards sustainability-oriented development trajectories. We derive a novel conceptual framework integrating policy science concepts into a place-based setting, then examine empirical evidence on the formulation of a sustainability roadmap for the space industry in Scotland, UK. By drawing insight into why, by whom, how and when a process of roadmap formulation has been pursued for a regional industry during its early developmental phase, we uncover the ways that non-traditional policy actors can contribute to the provision of directionality, positioning sustainability as a dimension of their region’s industry development. Read the transcript © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group