Dynamics of the Valencian industry: areas of change and innovation for the regional development

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify those areas of the Valencian Community, a Spanish region, that present a high dynamism and, so, can be considered as areas of change and innovation. These areas would have the best conditions for a higher development in the future than other areas. To achieve this objective, a database with information about the dynamics of the Valencian industrial sectors has been constructed using two main sources, the System of Iberian Balance Analysis (SABI) and the Statistics of Industrial Movement obtained from the Department of Industry of the Valencian Government. Local labour markets will be used as spatial unit of analysis and data has been obtained using a three-digit level from the NACE. This data set is applied to carry out a factor analysis and an estimation of a synthetic index in order to identify those sectors that, in the last years, have shown a positive evolution. In a second part, the most dynamic industrial sector will be selected in order to identify those local labour markets in which these sectors are concentrated and show a high dynamism. So, it will be obtained a classification of those local productive systems that have contributed in a high degree to the positive evolution of the most dynamic industries. The results will show the geographical areas of the Valencian Community that have more opportunities of future development according to the dynamics of the industry in terms of creation of enterprises and employment or increase of investment. This information will be useful for the policy-makers in order to establish industrial policies to promote the development in the Valencian Community.