The authors adopt heterarchy mode of Regional Innovation System (RIS) governance mechanism to account for economic ups and downs of Route 128 centered on Greater Boston. We believe that heterarchical type of governance would provide a vantage point through which to view how micro-level performances become translated into macro-level patterns and, in turn, how the macroscopic patterns feed back into micro-level performances. Although most of existing studies rely heavily on the elite model in explaining the role of academia, we attribute the economic revival of Route 128 since the late 1990s to the diffusion-oriented education model. In addition, the inter-organizational collaboration in this region has taken place not within the same industrial sector tied into a single technological trajectory but across sectors with different technologies. Although our exploration of inter-systemic steering is still under way and requires thorough investigation, we believe that Route 128 s economy must be understood in a broader global context because its overall system has been more influenced by changes in world politics and economy than its counterparts in other domestic regions and overseas.