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Smart Specialisation as a transition management framework: Driving sustainability-focused regional innovation policy?

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  • Veldhuizen, Caroline

Abstract

Intensifying debates regarding the capacity of innovation policy to contribute to addressing complex problems requires analysis of the relationship between different policy approaches and the concepts of sustainability and sustainable regional development. This paper makes an important contribution to this endeavour by considering the potential of the place based Smart Specialisation (S3) approach to be used as a vehicle for governing regional sustainability transitions. The potential for alignment between the Transitions Management (TM) framework and S3, predicated upon the central role of collaborative discourse in each, provides the analytical lens to explore this issue. Key factors which both promote and inhibit the potential of S3 to effectively pursue a sustainability agenda are identified. An exploratory case study of the first stages of implementation of S3 in Gippsland, Australia, suggests that the policy approach can be adapted to address some of the challenges. However, it also suggests that adaptation of the S3 process may act to conceal unacknowledged, systemic issues, with profound implications for its capacity to promote societal transition within constrained time frames.

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  • Veldhuizen, Caroline, 2020. "Smart Specialisation as a transition management framework: Driving sustainability-focused regional innovation policy?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:6:s0048733320300627
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2020.103982
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    1. Fil Kristensen, Iryna & Pugh, Rhiannon & Grillitsch, Markus, 2022. "Leadership and governance challenges in delivering place-based transformation through smart specialisation: Insights and policy implications from a metropolitan innovation leader region," Papers in Innovation Studies 2022/6, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    2. Magdalena Kogut-Jaworska & Elżbieta Ociepa-Kicińska, 2023. "Practical Implications of Smart Specialization Strategy: Barriers to Implementation, Role of the Public Sector, and Benefits for Entrepreneurs," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    3. Eduardo Gonçalves & Henrique Silva Costa & Rosa Livia Montenegro & Tulio Chiarini & Juliana Gonçalves Taveira, 2023. "Green technology co-patenting networks: international dynamics," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1603-1627, April.
    4. Ávila-Robinson, Alfonso & Islam, Nazrul & Sengoku, Shintaro, 2022. "Exploring the knowledge base of innovation research: Towards an emerging innovation model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Veldhuizen, Caroline & Desouza, Kevin C. & Bandara, Wasana & Chang, Artemis, 2022. "How much is not enough: Corporate social responsibility and beyond in the resources sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Christopher Meyer & Laima Gerlitz & Monika Klein, 2022. "Creativity as a Key Constituent for Smart Specialization Strategies (S3), What Is in It for Peripheral Regions? Co-creating Sustainable and Resilient Tourism with Cultural and Creative Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-31, March.
    7. Yong Kyu Lew & Jeong‐Yang Park, 2021. "The evolution of N‐helix of the regional innovation system: Implications for sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 453-464, March.
    8. Nicos Komninos, 2022. "Transformation of Industry Ecosystems in Cities and Regions: A Generic Pathway for Smart and Green Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.
    9. George Martinidis & Arkadiusz Dyjakon & Stanisław Minta & Rafał Ramut, 2022. "Intellectual Capital and Sustainable S3 in the Regions of Central Macedonia and Western Macedonia, Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.

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