Implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies Analysis of the Role of Regional Strategies in National Innovation Strategies

Abstract

Smart specialisation (RIS3) is a placed-based policy approach aiming to boost Europe’s innovative potential by enabling each region to identify and develop its own competitive advantages. It is based on an entrepreneurial discovery process and the selection of a limited number of thematic priorities, allowing policy makers to address emerging opportunities and market developments in a coherent manner, while avoiding duplication and fragmentation of efforts across regions. The Smart Specialisation Strategies may take the form of, or be included in, a national or regional research and innovation (R&I) strategic policy framework. The adoption of national and/or regional Smart Specialisation Strategies was a formal requirement for allocating R&I budgets from the European Structural and Investment Funds. The objective of the present report is to analyse the progress of Member States in the implementation of national and regional smart specialisation strategies, in particular by means of an assessment of new policy developments, the progress of implementation of the different strategies, the monitoring mechanisms and observed impacts. This assessment mainly relied on the information contained in the Research and Innovation Observatory (RIO) country reports 2017 and through a survey conducted among the RIO network experts. This input was complemented by data gathered through the Eye@RIS3 platform, the European Innovation Scoreboard 2017 and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (2017).