IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iez/survey/ces-v21_2-2019_vidmar.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Ten Million Euro Question: How Do Innovation Intermediaries Support Smart Specialization?

Author

Listed:
  • Matjaz Vidmar

    (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) has become a dominant regional economic development field with significant policy traction, in particular within the European Union. However, questions are being raised about its operationalization and a gap has been identified with respect to the role of innovation intermediaries' interventions in support of the developing regional-sectoral innovation systems. In particular, reasons for diverging policy approaches of "niche specialization" versus "regional advantage" in comparable situations should be examined to illuminate the contextual factors impacting the interpretation of the intermediaries' mandates. In this paper, the cases of two leading investments in innovation intermediation in the emerging New Space sector are analyzed (Space-SI and Higgs Centre for Innovation) in two EU NUTS level 1 regions (Slovenia and Scotland), which were previously peripheral players in this technological domain. In particular, using a novel innovation intermediation interventions' classification, this paper identifies the difference between research and development (R&D) and business development (BD) support foci in the two locales, noting some of the contextual factors associated with them and arguing for the long-term balancing of the two approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Matjaz Vidmar, 2019. "The Ten Million Euro Question: How Do Innovation Intermediaries Support Smart Specialization?," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(2), pages 37-84, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:iez:survey:ces-v21_2-2019_vidmar
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/332987
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dominique Foray & Xabier Goenaga, 2013. "The goals of Smart Specialisation," JRC Research Reports JRC82213, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Ron Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2011. "Technological Relatedness, Related Variety and Economic Geography," Chapters, in: Philip Cooke & Bjørn Asheim & Ron Boschma & Ron Martin & Dafna Schwartz & Franz Tödtling (ed.), Handbook of Regional Innovation and Growth, chapter 14, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Doh, Soogwan & Kim, Byungkyu, 2014. "Government support for SME innovations in the regional industries: The case of government financial support program in South Korea," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1557-1569.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuhuan Jin & Sheng Zhang, 2019. "Credit Rationing in Small and Micro Enterprises: A Theoretical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Souzanchi Kashani, Ebrahim & Roshani, Saeed, 2019. "Evolution of innovation system literature: Intellectual bases and emerging trends," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 68-80.
    3. Panagiotis KOUDOUMAKIS & George BOTZORIS & Angelos PROTOPAPAS, 2021. "The Contribution Of Cohesion Policy To The Development And Convergence Of The Regions Of The European Union," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(2), pages 277-290, June.
    4. repec:ers:journl:v:volumexxi:y:2018:i:issue4:p:368-377 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Peter Mayerhofer & Julia Bachtrögler-Unger & Klaus Nowotny & Gerhard Streicher, 2021. "Ökonomische Wirkung von Interventionen der Europäischen Struktur- und Investitionsfonds in Österreich seit 1995," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 94(2), pages 139-150, February.
    6. Enrico Vanino & Stephen Roper & Bettina Becker, 2020. "Knowledge to Money: Assessing the Business Performance Effects of Publicly Funded R&D Grants," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 17(04), pages 20-24, January.
    7. Krzysztof Mieszkowski & Marcin Kardas, 2015. "Facilitating an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process for Smart Specialisation. The Case of Poland," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(2), pages 357-384, June.
    8. Rankhumise E M & Masilo K H, 2018. "The Effect of Government Support on the Success of Small and Medium Enterprises: A Comparative Study between South Africa and China," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 9(6), pages 166-173.
    9. Martine Gadille & Alena Siarheyeva, 2014. "Limits to the construction of a community-based open innovation network and implications for specialisation of a small urban area," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(2), pages 152-172.
    10. Moodysson , Jerker & Trippl, Michaela & Zukauskaite, Elena, 2015. "Policy Learning and Smart Specialization Balancing Policy Change and Policy Stability for New Regional Industrial Path Development," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/39, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    11. Walid A. Nakara & Karim Messeghem & Andry Ramaroson, 2021. "Innovation and entrepreneurship in a context of poverty: a multilevel approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1601-1617, April.
    12. Zon-Yau Lee & Mei-Tai Chu & Shiuann-Shuoh Chen & Chih-Hung Tsai, 2018. "Identifying Comprehensive Key Criteria of Sustainable Development for Traditional Manufacturing in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Valeria Costantini & Valerio Leone Sciabolazza & Elena Paglialunga, 2023. "Network-driven positive externalities in clean energy technology production: the case of energy efficiency in the EU residential sector," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 716-748, April.
    14. Hundt, Christian & Holtermann, Linus & Steeger, Jonas & Bersch, Johannes, 2019. "Cluster externalities, firm capabilities, and the recessionary shock: How the macro-to-micro-transition shapes firm performance during stable times and times of crisis," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-008, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Veldhuizen, Caroline, 2020. "Smart Specialisation as a transition management framework: Driving sustainability-focused regional innovation policy?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    16. Pietro Moncada-Paterno-Castello & Alex Coad & Antonio Vezzani, 2018. "For a transformative Industry & Innovation Strategy," JRC Research Reports JRC110888, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Hyejin Jang & Keeeun Lee & Byungun Yoon, 2017. "Development Of An Open Innovation Model For R&D Collaboration Between Large Firms And Small-Medium Enterprises (Smes) In Manufacturing Industries," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(01), pages 1-29, January.
    18. Yakob, Ramsin & Nakamura, H. Richard & Ström, Patrik, 2018. "Chinese foreign acquisitions aimed for strategic asset-creation and innovation upgrading: The case of Geely and Volvo Cars," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 70, pages 59-72.
    19. László Szerb & Raquel Ortega‐Argilés & Zoltan J. Acs & Éva Komlósi, 2020. "Optimizing entrepreneurial development processes for smart specialization in the European Union," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(5), pages 1413-1457, October.
    20. Chatzistamoulou, Nikos & Kounetas, Kostas & Tsekouras, Kostas, 2022. "Technological hierarchies and learning: Spillovers, complexity, relatedness, and the moderating role of absorptive capacity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    21. Nguyen, Hoai Thu Thi & Vu, Huong Van & Bartolacci, Francesca & Quang Tran, Tuyen, 2018. "Government Support and Firm Performance in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 93599, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Nov 2018.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    smart specialization; innovation intermediaries; innovation policy; innovation networks; New Space industry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • L53 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Enterprise Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iez:survey:ces-v21_2-2019_vidmar. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Doris Banicevic (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eizgghr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.