Abstract Semiconductors have emerged as a critical industry for maintaining today’s high-tech society, meeting economic priorities, achieving innovative futures, and resolving socio-political issues. Nations across the globe are investing heavily in building microchip technology capacity, especially to redevelop deindustrialized regions. Countries have developed semiconductor-specific policies that mimic regions of historic technological innovation and socio-economic success, including Silicon Valley and imec. Built in 1984 and modelled after Silicon Valley, imec is Europe’s largest semiconductor research center located in Flanders, Belgium. By prioritizing public-private investments into high-tech institutions, like imec, Flanders has transformed into a renowned innovation hub. Although imec mirrors Silicon Valley’s legendary model comprised of government, university, and industry, the CEO says places should not try to remake imec. I ask: why? How did imec transcend the myth of ‘Silicon Somewhere’ replication to become Europe's leading semiconductor research institution? My ethnographic research with various stakeholders across Belgium traces imec’s development and trajectory, cultural meanings and relevance, and regional embeddedness. Drawing on theoretical foundations in both Innovation Studies and Science and Technology Studies, I analyze the co-production of Silicon Valley and Flemish innovation imaginaries that inform imec's institutional makeup. Arguing against the enduring myth of Silicon Valley and innovation model replication, I suggest that to successfully implement regional transformation, innovation policy practitioners must tend to local innovation cultures, conditions, and desires.
Marlise Horvath Schneider (Fri,) studied this question.