Intellectual Capital for sustainability: evidence from green patents and Geographical Indications in European regional agricultural systems

Purpose This paper investigates how Geographical Indications (GIs) operate as territorial ecosystems of Intellectual Capital (IC) that mobilize human, structural, and relational resources to foster green innovation in the European agricultural systems. It also examines how this relationship varies with regions' technological proximity to the frontier. Design/methodology/approach We compile a panel dataset for 251 regions in the EU-27 (1996–2022), combining eAmbrosia, OECD RegPat and ARDECO data. Green patents in agriculture are used as proxies for technological environmental innovation. A two-way fixed-effects Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood estimation and additional robustness checks assess the effect of GIs on regional green innovation conditional on the distance to the technological frontier. Findings GIs significantly enhance regional green innovation capability, particularly in technologically lagging regions, where they act as collective IC infrastructures that enable cooperation, knowledge diffusion and adaptation. In frontier regions, the effect weakens or reverses, suggesting that strong market protection may reduce incentives for innovation. Research limitations/implications Patent data capture only codified technological innovation; future research should explore non-technological innovations. Practical implications GIs can be leveraged as strategic IC architecture to strengthen regional innovation ecosystems and align local identity with green transition goals, especially in lagging regions. Originality/value The study advances IC research by conceptualizing GIs as territorial IC systems integrating human, relational and structural capital to support place-based sustainability transitions. It provides novel empirical evidence on how collective intangible assets foster green technological upgrading and regional resilience.