Smart Specialisation at work: Assessing investment priorities
S3 Working Paper Series No. 14/2018
This paper provides a methodology to assess how the principle of selective intervention of smart specialisation is applied by countries and regions in the definition of their research and innovation investment priorities. It then tests the methodology empirically, based on a significant sample of national and regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation.
The paper helps to fill a gap in the emerging literature on smart specialisation regarding the definition of investment priority areas, while providing useful analytical elements to orient policy impact evaluation exercises. Second, we provide policy implementation evidence from Italy and Poland.
We found that research and innovation priorities in Italy and Poland are defined in line with a multi-level, tree-like structure whose higher hierarchical level usually contains a few broad dimensions, and whose branches cover several specific activities. When considered individually, most of those activities represent suitable smart specialisation priorities. Yet, 11 out of the 39 RIS3 examined, do not fully reflect the smart specialisation logic. Several strategies encompass tens or even hundreds of activities.
It is beyond the scope of the present study to evaluate the appropriateness of the choice of a certain set of priorities; however, our analysis raises an important question about the capacity of the strategy management bodies to effectively support the development of huge sets of activities each of which potentially requires specific competences and dedicated administrative and technical resources. Also, large sets of priorities, as in the cases in some regions in Italy and Poland, may de facto circumvent the principle of selective intervention, as the strategies ultimately cover broad economic areas.
GIANELLE Carlo;
GUZZO Fabrizio;
MIESZKOWSKI Krzysztof;
2018-11-14
European Commission
JRC113433
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC113433,
Additional supporting files
| File name | Description | File type | |
|---|
