Resilience configurations as a core element of innovation policies

There is a persistent gap in understanding how innovation policy contributes to building societal resilience. This article addresses this gap by introducing the concept of resilience configurations, which captures how research and innovation (R&I) policies interact with governance quality, territorial inequalities and historically shaped socio-economic structures. The concept builds on the premise that actors and institutions are embedded in specific contexts, which condition both governance approaches and the societal impact of innovation policy. Drawing on cross-country evidence, we show that countries with higher R&I investment, stronger governance capacity and lower regional disparities tend to exhibit higher levels of resilience and preparedness for future shocks. The findings suggest that innovation policy can play a strategic role in resilience-building when it is designed in relation to diverse national and regional configurations, rather than applied through uniform, one-size-fits-all approaches.