Regions matter. The communities of non-metropolitan areas have critical roles to play in achieving local, national and global goals in sustainability, productivity and social cohesion. However, the full and balanced development of regions is challenged by increasingly rapid socioeconomic change, low critical mass, resourcing conundrums, parochial thinking and conflicting policy agendas. Amidst this complexity, innovative and entrepreneurial thinking is required if regions are to reach their full potential. In this book, ¿Regional Collaboratives¿ are introduced as a new, facilitation-based model for realizing an accelerated and higher-impact form of regional development. The model is anchored in the use of innovation and the need for a design-led process to acknowledge, access and activate all forms of regional capital. Emphasis is placed on the ability to team together local knowledge with external assistance and expertise, such that community-led development can be integrated with government initiatives for regional productivity and structural adjustment (a merger of top-down and bottom-up approaches). This book examines some of the existing challenges in regional development, before exploring the multi-theoretical base upon which the Regional Collaborative concept is built.

The model is broadly explained through a step-by-step process, and the potential value of Regional Collaboratives as a placed-based development approach is illustrated using a case study of an Indigenous community in the Far Western Zone in Australia. The work concludes with insights into regional policy and notes about future applications and evolutions of the Regional Collaborative model, in both developed and developing economies.