Smart specialisation; an overview of a regional growth policy tool

Abstract

During the 1990s the ever-widening productivity and growth gap experienced between the EU and the US prompted various stakeholders in Europe to start investigating for the reasons for this phenomenon and what could be done to alleviate it. An array of arguments were raised for the existence of this gap including among others differences on labour issues, human capital and mobility, market segmentation, managerial practices and so forth. However the Research and Development (R&D) gap was found to be one of the main reasons, having a substantial economic impact, and has since become the focus point of the Smart Specialisation concept, which seeks to shorten and alleviate it by focusing on the competitive advantage and the synergies between the various stakeholders in the European regions. The concept has evolved since, to a basic ingredient of the “Europe 2020” which is the EU's growth strategy for the coming decade. It has become a political instrument and forms part of the regional development agendas across the EU. While the results of the RIS31 policy have been mixed so far, as it will be demonstrated in the dissertation, nevertheless the experience is evaluated as positive in general. While it’s too early to reach a final verdict, corrective measures can be taken to better adapt the policy to the present and future needs of the European regions.