Dima Yankova (p)

Pedro Marques

Smart specialization or RIS3 has played an integral part of the reformed European Cohesion Policy during the 2014-2020 programming period (Fratesi et al., 2021). Contrary to traditional sector-neutral approaches, smart specialization requires regions to concentrate their investments on a limited number of context-specific research and innovation (R&I) priorities (Foray, 2017). The end of the 2014-2020 programming period offers an opportunity to assess the implementation of the smart specialization concept in practice. Given the recency of the policy, most contributions in the academic field have focused on the theoretical aspects of RIS3, while its practical implementation has only recently come under scrutiny (some notable exceptions include: Capello & Kroll, 2016; Iacobucci, 2014; McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2015).
The aim of this paper is to trace and assess the processes of specialization by taking a closer look at the regional R&I network and more specifically the thematic focus of the knowledge that flows through the existing links. We seek to understand to what extent the measures implemented under RIS3 resulted in the concentration of a well-defined core of knowledge domains, as the theory would suggest. To reconstruct the regional innovation network in a dynamic fashion we rely on R&I projects, funded through the RIS3 policy instruments, while the thematic focus of the link content is inferred by inspecting project titles, abstracts and keywords. We base our study in the context of the Spanish region of Catalunya and its RIS3-funded R&I ecosystem. This type of analysis can shed light on the micro-mechanisms of specialization and identify potential points of intervention in the regional knowledge network, through which policy makers can facilitate the advancement of the selected priority domains.

Carolin Nast (p), Pablo D'Este

Dima Yankova

This paper investigates the location pattern of (top) scientists and the degree and intensity of knowledge-sharing activities performed by the scientists in their regions. More precisely, we focus on the contribution of scientists to regional Smart Specialization. Smart Specialization is a policy approach of far-reaching importance in the European context, requiring the involvement of, among others, universities and scientists.

We know from previous literature that world-class researchers (identified by the number of citations they generated in journals) strongly concentrate in a few major places and are linked to academic, industrial, and policy actors. However, to what extent do top scientists' activities align with regional Smart Specialization priorities in their research and regional engagement? Using a unique dataset of 11.000 Spanish scientists, we explore the extent to and why Spanish scientists are involved in regional knowledge-sharing activities to varying degrees. The survey of Spanish scientists includes information on scientists' research university, publications, and their involvement in collaborative scientific and non-scientific projects. We connect this information with regional Smart Specialization priorities to determine to what extent scientists' research activities align with the regional priorities. Our main interest is to disentangle the influence of individual and institutional characteristics on scientists' regional engagement.

The results of our study are of great relevance for achieving an increase in the engagement of universities and scientists in regional economic development and Smart Specialization in particular.

Pedro Marques (p), Daniel Cuesta, Ghinwa Moujaes

Innovation policy funded by the EU has undergone a significant transformation since the beginning of the decade. After the Barca report (2009), which argued that intangible resources such as knowledge and human capital should be prominent in EU cohesion policy, and the emergence of the concept of smart specialisation, a significant effort has been made to improve the design of innovation strategies across all European regions. However, as demonstrated by political science several decades ago, implementation, and not design, is the key stage of policymaking. Moreover, implementation is not only dependent on institutional quality or the interests of the public sector, but on the interaction between state and non-state actors. The strategic interests and capabilities of the latter are as important, if not more important, for the successful implementation of policy. This paper will use a consolidated database of all innovation projects funded by cohesion in France, Italy and Portugal, for the period of 2007 to 2020 to analyse policy implementation. It will use text-mining techniques to assess and categorise different types of projects at the regional level, and statistical analysis to assess the importance of institutions, economic structure, human capital or other variables in explaining the characteristics of innovation projects across these three countries.