Smart specialisation: some considerations of the Croatian practice

The paper deals with the concept of smart specialisation in technology-follower countries, using the example of Croatia. Developed countries, especially in the European Union, have growing interest in smart specialisation as a new policy measure and as a way of overcoming uncoordinated focus on supporting the same technological, research and production areas that does not pay-off investments and efforts. Although smart specialisation suits the socio-economic circumstances of developed countries due to their mature co-evolutionary process between technologies, institutions and business activities, it has a potentially significant role in less developed countries, too. Smart specialisation appears to be a useful tool for less developed countries as an alternative to the current bundle of mainly horizontal policy measures that are usually not only disconnected but also stand in mutual competition. The latter sometimes creates rivalry among the public institutions and programmes and leads to a lack of synergy and efficiency of the public policies, undecided and hesitant development strategies and thus a low impact on fostering technological transformation and economic growth.