Production and innovations are often regionally concentrated. While the cluster approaches focus primarily on the specialization and transaction cost advantages due to regional agglomeration effects, the concept of regional innovation systems (RIS) also emphasizes the importance of localized, interactive, institutionally embedded learning processes among companies and customers, and the institutional provision of various collective goods. Particularly important are high-quality training and research institutions, regional associations that act as network facilitators, regionally available banks and financial service providers, and economic, technology transfer, and innovation policies, as shown by the example of Baden-Württemberg. The RIS approach highlights the central importance of regional networks, local bases of knowledge and experience, regional proximity, and regional institutions even in a global knowledge society. Multinational enterprises, which are often regionally or nationally embedded, play a crucial role in such an economy. At the same time, they play an important role for opening up economic regions for worldwide exchange and innovation transforming regional innovation systems in nodes of a globally linked knowledge society.