Circular Economy in National Smart Specialization Strategies: The case of Greece

Greece is lagging significantly behind the EU average in the process of transition from the linear to the Circular Economy (CE). The country needs significant acceleration to catch up and new tools may be necessary, as old good intentions proved ineffective. Monitoring indi-cators, European Semester recommendations, fines by the Court of Justice and national/inter-national NGO assessments leave no doubt for that. At the same time the main advantage of the country are high quality research skills. This chapter5 presents a mapping exercise aiming at assisting the Greek Authorities in using the national and regional Smart Specialisation Strat-egies (SSS) to contribute to facilitating and accelerating the transition of the country to the CE. The combination of these two EU priority strategies and policies, totally distinct in terms of timing and primary target, pose significant challenges in terms of methodology, prioritisa-tion and project coordination. The main lesson drawn from the Greek exercise is that the CE transition can be accelerated and become profitable, if using a cross-referencing methodology of SSS and CE strategy goals. This can be done only if adapted for the needs and competitive advantages of each country or region.