Digital innovation, regional development, and spatial inequalities

While opening up unprecedented opportunities for development and economic growth, the space economy and space-borne Earth Observations (EO) also pose additional societal challenges of redistributive and environmental nature. In particular, the acceleration of globalization trends triggered by the Covid-19 Crisis may herald a radical transition towards a new international economic order underpinned by changing geopolitical equilibria. In the meantime, the transition phase may be characterized by rising inequalities and epistemic injustices that may increase disproportionately the number of the poor and of those kept behind. Based on these premises, this study illustrates, within the general framework of the regional sciences, the state-of-art of the space economy and, within it, of space-borne Earth Observations (EO). Notwithstanding the relative stability of its structure, the space economy is rapidly evolving due to several innovation streams, and now seems to be on the verge of a new cycle of its development characterised by the increasing use of remote sensing output (signals, data) in the design and implementation of scientific approaches to societal challenges. Despite the unprecedented opportunities of innovation and development opened up by the space economy and the EO, it is worth noting that many regions cannot follow spatial innovation patterns, which, in turn, may exacerbate inequalities both between and within regions. On the other hand, the greater availability of low-cost resources in marginal areas may foster a process of decentralization of productive activities to regional peripheries, rather than to other regions, due to a mix of social proximity and low transport costs. Based on the considerations, the research highlights that a heterogeneous set of policy measures is needed to address the disruptive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and to enable and support sustainable development in social and territorial localities. Furthermore, a “sextuple helix model” emerges, which innovates previous quadruple and quintuple helixes by adding, besides environmental, also redistributive concerns and a specific focus on eradicating epistemic injustices.