Maennig W. and Olschlager M. Innovative milieux and regional competitiveness: the role of associations and chambers of commerce and industry in Germany, Regional Studies. Innovation is regarded as a spatially embedded process in which the social and economic interactive relationships of the actors are an important factor for success. This paper is one of the first to examine empirically the role of organizations such as associations, clubs, societies, and chambers of commerce and industry in innovative milieux. A limited effect of these actors on the regional competitiveness of the sixty largest German cities is found.