Local development strategies represent an important response to the challenges of globalisation, while providing a mechanism for seizing the new opportunities that globalisation offers. Yet designing and implementing a local strategy is a much more difficult process than often imagined. It involves bringing together diverse objectives in the fields of skills development, innovation and social inclusion; involving stakeholders from the public and private sectors and civil society; setting up the right governing structure, and providing appropriate financing. The challenges facing local actors in developing effective strategies are all the more acute in Central and Eastern Europe. How can they be addressed? What are the best local practices? What is the role of government? Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin wall, it is time to evaluate progress made and identify what needs to be done to speed up the drive towards prosperity in Central and Eastern Europe. This book demonstrates that the success of local development strategies depends on the capacity of the government and its partners to accelerate change within the policy and governance aspects of economic and social development. Local innovations for growth may seem especially vulnerable in a rapidly changing world, but there is much government can do to influence their development and enhance their impact on the economy and society. Local Innovations for Growth in Central and Eastern Europe is essential reading for policy-makers, academics and practitioners both within the region, and elsewhere.