The question of how to shape regional policies to incubate, support, and sustain emerging manufacturing technologies and spur job creation in incumbent industries is the subject of extensive debate in the wake of the global recession. This issue of Regions focuses on the grand challenge facing academics and policymakers: how to rethink Regional Manufacturing Policy in and for a 21st century economy — both as an empirical issue for analysts and a question of policy innovation. These articles showcase scholarship on recent developments in manufacturing policies in advanced industrialized countries including the shift toward comprehensive regional strategies to support advanced manufacturing. These studies underscore the increasingly spatial dimension of manufacturing strategies as policymakers recognize the importance of linking research and design functions to local production networks. This goal places new emphasis on regional institutions as both the implementation framework and as a key factor differentiating regional capacities.