Bridging thinkers and doers: first policy lessons from the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

At the core of regional smart specialisation strategies (RIS3) is the bottom-up identification of a limited set of priorities for which regions think they have potential to obtain a comparative advantage. For setting such priorities entrepreneurs are in the driver seat, by identifying business opportunities together with other research and innovation actors. Such process, also referred to as an entrepreneurial process of discovery (EDP), has been widely described in theory, but reported experiences on its implementation are scarce. This policy brief takes stock of a novel experience on implementing an EDP process in the Greek region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, drawing on practices from a European Parliament Preparatory Action through which the Knowledge for Growth Unit of the JRC-IPTS has been engaged in the refinement and implementation of a RIS3 strategy in this region. The region one of poorest regions in Europe and was heavily hit by the crisis. The challenge of implementation of a RIS3 strategy in this context offers lessons not only for the region itself but also for other convergence regions in Greece and Europe.