Attracting international research professionals to EU smart regions: evidence from Tuscany.

Human resources is one of the main assets of the regional innovation systems. The development and accumulation of human resources is a crucial prerequisite to keep regional R&I industries highly performing and internationally competitive. Yet, regional policies to attract international research professionals (IRPs) are still underdeveloped for a number of reasons. It is crucial to understand the role of regions in managing IRP migration, as well as factors and obstacles to IRP immigration in order to design effective policy measures. It is argued that the factors that influence the size, composition and distribution of IRPs within a territory are place-based, and they are structural (organisational, policy-related and economic) as well as non-pecuniary (professional, personal, cultural, lifestyle preferences). The framework is interrogated via a case study of Tuscany. Particular attention is paid to organisational, policy-related, economic and human factors. The paper concludes by offering a discussion of policies to be implemented at different levels of governance to improve attraction and recruitment potential, and to achieve the ultimate goal of sustainable management of regional research capacities

Internationalising smart specialisation: assessment and issues in the case of EU New Member States

Smart specialisation is currently probably the largest innovation policy experiment in the world. Its aim is to move the EU less developed countries and regions on path of R&D based growth. This transformation requires not only endogenous knowledge and technology accumulation building but also coupling with international knowledge and production networks. Yet, internationalization does not seem to be a crucial component in the design and development of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3), which is at odds with the strong dependence of the EU New Member States (EU-13) on FDI and global value chains. Our analysis is grounded in the key ’stylized facts’ related to EU-13 R&D&I activities, and the complex link between innovation and internationalization. Innovation systems in the EU-13 are fragmented and based on largely public R&D systems and on predominantly production oriented foreign direct investment (FDI). This structural weakness calls for stronger support for innovation oriented activities and for the integration of global value chains (GVCs) and FDI into local innovation systems. We explore the main obstacles to the internationalization of smart specialisation and discuss ways to overcome them. We highlight the policy action areas related to providing support for technology upgrading in relation to the internationalization of smart specialisation.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Food and gastronomy as elements of regional innovation strategies

The paper discusses recent innovation and diversification paths in agro-food, specifically the linkage between food, territory and branding, the emerging phenomenon of Food Cities and increasing interest in healthier and more sustainable food products. It also focuses on EU policies and instruments in support of R&I activities in agro-food and explores agro-food domain within the context of smart specialisation.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Research and technology organisations and smart specialisation

Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) have developed in many European countries at both national and regional levels to assist in the support of local industry, often around specific industrial technologies or sectors. With a core responsibility for technological upgrading they play a key role in regional and national innovation systems. Yet there is great variety in the form and mission of such RTOs, especially in terms of the degree of regional alignment, and whilst some regions are relatively well endowed with multiple RTOs, others are reliant on national RTOs in other regions or even other countries. These geographical challenges are also compounded by changes in the funding of RTOs with a shift to greater reliance on non-government funding and the search for funds from international sources such as global firms or Horizon 2020 projects. So whilst regions may see RTOs as critical regional assets, the RTOs may have a more nuanced attitude as their client base extends beyond national boundaries and they search for new sources of revenue. RTOs have an important role to play in smart specialisation (S3) though and three specific roles have been identified here. First, many RTOs have a policy role and have capabilities to identify industry needs and technological opportunities as a key input into the entrepreneurial discovery process. Second, RTOs, as increasingly international organisations, can facilitate the access to global knowledge for regional firms through their networks and research collaborations. Third RTOs often have a central role in the development of particular cluster groupings through their specialisation around core technologies, and as such can be a central player in the development of such clusters. But all three of these roles involve potential challenges and difficulties as the interests of the RTOs do not necessarily align with the needs of the region. The case studies in this report on RTOs in Spain, Finland, Italy, and the UK illustrate the variety of RTOs and the complexities of their relationships with regional hosts, but also some of the initiatives that are developing to support smart specialisation

Dynamics of Smart Specialisation Agri-food Trans-regional Cooperation S3 Policy Brief Series No. 21/2017

The objective of this paper is to inform the community of researchers, policymakers and practitioners about the dynamics of setting up the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Agri-food, and to provide information about its functioning and governance. This work outlines the milestones of the process and the main achievements. The paper proposes the steps to be followed by policymakers and regional officers who are motivated to lead, support and actively contribute to a thematic platform within the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Agri-food. At the same time, it discusses specific cases of such partnerships and describes the motivations and objectives of the regions that decided to embark on the journey towards establishment of specific thematic partnerships through this Platform.JRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

Digital Growth Strategies in EU Regions: Taking Stock from Learning Activities

The development and implementation of regional development policies comprising information and communication technologies (ICT) is a complex process. ICTs play a crucial role in regional development as a horizontally enabling tool, such as high-speed internet infrastructures. At the same time, some regions have an interest in supporting the vertical development of ICT industries and emerging regional specialisations like eTourism. Due to the technical nature and the socio-culturally embeddedness of ICT, policy processes have to include technical, socio-economic and policy capabilities in order to work with ICT. Using participatory methods, policy makers can encourage transfer of knowledge amongst regions to address this complex reality. This policy brief presents the findings from three learning workshops where Andalusia (ES), Lodz (PL), Lombardy (IT), Malopolska (PL), Noordvleugel (NL) and Scotland (UK) have presented their work on ICT strategies and digital growth. The regions' individual experience is distilled into four general observations: i) the importance of an adequate infrastructure as a crucial pre-condition for the development of the digital economy; ii) the significance of involving stakeholder groups in ICT policy development and in governance structures and processes, since every actor is a potential agent of change; iii) the need for inter-regional collaboration both for learning and co-development of policies; and iv) the need for a broad array of policies tailored to the specific needs of each region.JRC.J.2 - Knowledge for Growt

Assessment of strategies for ICT investments using European Structural and Investment Funds: reflections from experts and practical examples

DG Connect and DG JRC have been supporting MSs and regions in fostering the ICT dimension of planned investments under ESIF. As part of this activity, assistance has been given to seven EU regions. This paper provides a systematic summary of the experts’ findings and discusses critical issues pointed out in the expert reports and at an expert workshop.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Learning opportunities stemming from place-based transformative Smart Specialisation. Examples from Visegrad Group countries.

Smart specialisation (S3) is a place-based agenda for regional economic transformation. To that end, smart specialisation emphasises the importance of strategic thinking, good (multi-level) governance, existence of public institutions that are able to orchestrate fruitful discussion about the region’s future development trajectories as well as develop appropriate policy instruments and interventions, and finally engaged stakeholders that are willing to take an active lead in local development. In order to achieve these objectives, public institutions are required to learn constantly – explore, integrate and exploit knowledge acquired by individuals. The proposition of this study is to discuss if and how smart specialisation fosters policy learning and to provide some evidence on implementation of smart specialisation and associated policy learning opportunities in Visegrad Group countries.JRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

Addressing sustainability challenges and Sustainable Development Goals via Smart Specialisation. Towards a theoretical and conceptual framework

The ongoing work on addressing sustainability challenges and Sustainable Development Goals via Smart Specialisation builds on Smart Specialisation concept of place-based research and innovation agenda for regional economic transformation, and extends it further to include the UN 2030 Agenda objectives (17 SDGs), the European Green Deal and aspects of social and environmental sustainability. The purpose of this study is to reflect upon the S3 framework within the context of transition studies, notably socio-technical transitions, social-ecological resilience and challenge-driven innovation policy. The study includes discussion on the strengths and limitations of the current S3 framework and makes suggestions on how to strengthen and revisit the S3 approach based on the insights from these approaches. The study proposes the guidelines, accompanied with a self-assessment tool for regions, in support of their effort in designing and implementing smart specialisation strategies for sustainable transformation.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen

Smart Specialisation, Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental Commons

This report proposes a new transformative narrative to help guide the next phase of Smart Specialisation activities. The narrative helps align Smart Specialisation with the European Green Deal and the UN 2030 Agenda by offering directionality and combining different levels of policy to achieve the needed sustainability transformations. The report highlights the role of policy coherence and coordination for the transformation. It presents approaches to increase policy coherence to harness synergies and alleviate trade-offs across different objectives with a focus on environmental issues. Throughout this report a number of selected cases is used to illustrate the conceptual discussion developed in a more theoretical part of the report. These cases presented in the report cover countries and regions from within and outside the European Union. EU countries and outside the EU and present lessons learnt on the different topics linked to Smart Specialisation, sustainability and environmental commons. The report concludes by a discussion on how to orient existing S3 approaches towards sustainability.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen