Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.Over the past 25 years, the regional innovation system (RIS) approach has become a powerful framework for explaining the uneven geographical distribution of innovation, as well as for developing policies geared towards boosting the innovation capability of regional economies. This Advanced Introduction provides a critical review and discussion of research on RIS to answer a set of core questions covering the origins of the concept and its theoretical underpinnings, conceptual advances, empirical applications in different spatial contexts, the policy relevance of RIS and the challenges for future scholarly work. Key features include: • a comprehensive introduction to the RIS approach and its development• a critical review of the development of research on RIS• an analysis of empirical varieties of RIS• in-depth discussion linking RIS to other important concepts in studies of regional economic development, including industrial districts, regional clusters, knowledge bases and regional industrial path development.Ideal as an introductory textbook at both bachelor and master levels in economic geography, regional economic development and innovation studies, this concise Advanced Introduction will be a vital tool for understanding regional innovation studies.