IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/fisifr/r52013.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Templates of smart specialisation: Experiences of place-based regional development strategies in Germany and Austria

Author

Listed:
  • Baier, Elisabeth
  • Kroll, Henning
  • Zenker, Andrea

Abstract

[Introduction] The notion of 'smart specialisation' is set to become an important policy rationale in the upcoming structural funding period 2014-2020. Although the original academic concept of this policy approach was sectorally oriented and rooted in the analysis of the EU-US productivity gap (e.g. Foray et al. 2009), the concept is increasingly applied to regional contexts. Essential for the application of the smart specialisation concept in a regional context is the fact that regions are often faced with scarce resources and limited budgets which they should allocate according to external influences (e.g. global competition) and inherited structures (sectoral foci, linkages between sectors, innovation infrastructure). Therefore, and in accordance with the smart specialisation strategy (S3), regional governments need to design policies in such a way as to support the most promising areas of present and future comparative advantage in order to foster regional prosperity. Although the ideas behind smart specialisation are not entirely new on the regional level, the smart specialisation concept is going to expand its influence to regional innovation policy making. Thus, this contribution illuminates the interface between the smart specialisation concept and regional systems of innovation approach, since innovation is going to be a key issue in the next structural funding period. Key arguments for the usefulness of the smart specialisation concept in the field of the design of regional innovation policy making will be collected and three examples are presented in form of case studies. This contribution aims to demonstrate that the principles of smart specialisation have been implicitly applied in certain European regions for years in form of future-oriented transformation processes. Likewise this contribution aims to illustrate how the experiences from these regions can contribute to policy learning. In doing so, the structure is the following: firstly, existing literature on the smart specialisation concept is revised and secondly, these findings are reconsidered with regard to the regional systems of innovation approach. In particular, if and how the smart specialisation concept will influence regional development processes and potentially regional innovation systems. Three key working theses adopt these ideas and guide the empirical analyses. Methodologically, the paper pursues a case study approach. The policy trajectories of three different case study regions are analysed within the innovation systems approach and conclusions are drawn concerning the smart specialisation concept. Finally, the paper closes with a conclusion, concerning the influencing potential of the smart specialisation concept on regional innovation systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Baier, Elisabeth & Kroll, Henning & Zenker, Andrea, 2013. "Templates of smart specialisation: Experiences of place-based regional development strategies in Germany and Austria," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R5/2013, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:fisifr:r52013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/74482/1/745637779.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Koschatzky, Knut & Baier, Elisabeth & Kroll, Henning & Stahlecker, Thomas, 2009. "The spatial multidimensionality of sectoral innovation: the case of information and communication technologies," Working Papers "Firms and Region" R4/2009, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    2. Elvira Uyarra & Kieron Flanagan, 2010. "From Regional Systems of Innovation to Regions as Innovation Policy Spaces," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 28(4), pages 681-695, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emmanuel Muller & Andrea Zenker & Miriam Hufnagl & Jean-Alain Héraud & Esther Schnabl & Teemu Makkonen & Henning Kroll, 2017. "Smart specialisation strategies and cross-border integration of regional innovation systems: Policy dynamics and challenges for the Upper Rhine," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(4), pages 684-702, June.
    2. Jean-Alain Héraud, 2014. "La politique européenne de développement régional et le concept de spécialisation intelligente : smart specialisation strategy," Bulletin de l'Observatoire des politiques économiques en Europe, Observatoire des Politiques Économiques en Europe (OPEE), vol. 30(1), pages 27-29, June.
    3. Argentino Pessoa, 2014. "Smart Specialisation in the EU: Is it a Bridge between Innovation and Cohesion?," ERSA conference papers ersa14p989, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Jérémie Faham & Maxime Daniel & Benjamin Tyl & Iban Lizarralde & Iñaki Garagorri & Jérémy Legardeur, 2016. "A Dialogical Approach to increase " Matching " Efficiency before Collaborative Business Model Processes," Post-Print hal-01332579, HAL.
    5. Anna Golejewska & Dorota Czy¿ewska, 2015. "The least innovative regions in Poland and in France in the process of smart specialisation," ERSA conference papers ersa15p717, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Argentino Pessoa, 2016. "Rectracted: Smart specialization in the EU: RIS3 conditionality, innovation and cohesion," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 439-439, June.
    7. Calvin Jones & Max Munday, 2020. "Capital ownership, innovation and regional development policy in the economic periphery: An energy industry case," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(6), pages 545-565, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Serhat Burmaoglu & Ozcan Saritas, 2019. "An evolutionary analysis of the innovation policy domain: Is there a paradigm shift?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 823-847, March.
    2. Markku Sotarauta & Nina Mustikkamäki, 2015. "Institutional Entrepreneurship, Power, and Knowledge in Innovation Systems: Institutionalization of Regenerative Medicine in Tampere, Finland," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(2), pages 342-357, April.
    3. Elvira Uyarra & Jens Sörvik & Inger Midtkandal, 2014. "Inter-regional Collaboration in Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). S3 Working Paper Series no 6/2014," JRC Research Reports JRC91963, Joint Research Centre.
    4. Elvira Uyarra & Kieron Flanagan & Edurne Magro & James R Wilson & Markku Sotarauta, 2017. "Understanding regional innovation policy dynamics: Actors, agency and learning," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(4), pages 559-568, June.
    5. Parrilli, Mario Davide & Balavac, Merima & Radicic, Dragana, 2020. "Business innovation modes and their impact on innovation outputs: Regional variations and the nature of innovation across EU regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    6. André Spithoven & Bruno Merlevede, 2023. "The productivity impact of R&D and FDI spillovers: characterising regional path development," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 560-590, April.
    7. Simona Iammarino, 2018. "FDI and regional development policy," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(3), pages 157-183, December.
    8. Kristoffer Kolltveit & Jostein Askim, 2017. "Decentralisation as substantial and institutional policy change: scrutinising the regionalisation of science policy in Norway," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 546-555.
    9. Dimos Chatzinikolaou & Michail Demertzis & Charis Vlados, 2021. "European Entrepreneurship Reinforcement Policies in Macro, Meso, and Micro Terms for the Post-COVID-19 Era," Review of European Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(2), pages 1-39, June.
    10. Konig, Bettina & Kuntosch, Anett & Bokelmann, Wolfgang & Doernberg, Alexandra & Schwerdtner, Wim & Busse, Maria & Siebert, Rosemarie & Koschatzky, Knut & Stahlecker, Thomas, 2012. "Analysing agricultural innovation systems: a multilevel mixed methods approach," 131st Seminar, September 18-19, 2012, Prague, Czech Republic 135792, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Tan Tran, 2020. "R&D and Knowledge Expertise of French Regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2004, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Feb 2020.
    12. Rakas, Marija & Hain, Daniel S., 2019. "The state of innovation system research: What happens beneath the surface?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    13. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Alessandro Palma, 2015. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation in energy-efficient technologies," SEEDS Working Papers 1115, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jun 2015.
    14. John Holden & Marianne Sensier & Richard Allmendinger, 2021. "The North West of England's Productivity Challenge: Exploring the issues," Insight Papers 003, The Productivity Institute.
    15. Magro, Edurne & Wilson, James R., 2019. "Policy-mix evaluation: Governance challenges from new place-based innovation policies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    16. Cristian Matti & Davide Consoli & Elvira Uyarra, 2017. "Multi level policy mixes and industry emergence: The case of wind energy in Spain," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(4), pages 661-683, June.
    17. Valentina De Marchi & Roberto Grandinetti, 2017. "Regional Innovation Systems or Innovative Regions? Evidence from Italy," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(2), pages 234-249, April.
    18. Magro, Edurne & Wilson, James R., 2013. "Complex innovation policy systems: Towards an evaluation mix," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1647-1656.
    19. Jie Jiang & Qihang Zhang & Yifan Hui, 2023. "The Impact of Market and Non-Market-Based Environmental Policy Instruments on Firms’ Sustainable Technological Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, March.
    20. Rhiannon Pugh, 2018. "Questioning the implementation of smart specialisation: Regional innovation policy and semi-autonomous regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(3), pages 530-547, May.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:fisifr:r52013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isfhgde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.