Smart Specialization: theory and brief case studies

The ‘Smart specialization’ (SS) project of the European Union is both an innovative project and an ongoing experiment on industrial and innovation policy, probably the biggest such experiment globally. This approach makes it possible to rediscover mechanisms that have been extremely successful creating wealth in the past, and may contribute importantly to the eradication of poverty also in the future. An important aspect of this project is that it emphasizes the importance of solving the problems of relative poverty and backwardness by interfering in the productive sector of the relatively poor areas, not by transfer of purchasing power from other and richer geographical areas. Rather than alleviating the symptoms of poverty through transfers (focusing on the poor as consumers), the Smart Specialization approach attacks the causes of poverty in the realm of production (focusing on the poor as producers). This reflects the original intention from Maastricht that the European Union should avoid becoming a ‘transfer union’. In the end, in the opinion of this author, a better understanding of smart and less smart specialization would also bring us closer to comprehend the uneven financial flows within the European Union, often originating in the productive sector.