[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6244\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ESmart Specialisation will empower entrepreneurs, innovators in Europe\u2019s regions \u2013 Dr G\u00fcnter Clar\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIn order to win grants from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) \u2013 a major part of the EU\u2019s cohesion policy \u2013 regions need to develop a Smart Specialisation strategy in research. The expert group you chaired looked in detail and produced a \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ereport\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E analysing the effectiveness of this. Why is it important?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Smart Specialisation is what successful regions and successful larger companies do in globalised economies. The basic principle is that regions should not imitate others, but rather build their strategies on their own strengths \u2013 seen, however, in an international context. They consider their development potential in the context of global value chains, and in relationship to possible partners and competitors outside the region too.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy should the EU taxpayer care about Smart Specialisation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-bg-bluelightest tw-p-12 tw-my-12 tw--mx-16\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3 class=\u0022tw-font-sans tw-font-bold tw-text-blue tw-uppercase tw-text-lg tw-mb-8\u0022\u003ESmart Specialisation and European cohesion\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-inline-block tw-w-1\/6 tw-h-1 tw-bg-blue tw-mb-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EFor the period 2014-2020, the EU has set aside approximately EUR 350 billion, roughly a third of its budget, for cohesion policy, which is aimed at reducing disparities between EU regions and helping create growth and jobs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the cohesion policy funds, the European Regional Development \u0026nbsp;Fund (ERDF), focuses its investments on several key priority areas, one of them being research and innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn order for less-developed and well-developed regions to get access to the funding, they need to develop a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/s3pguide\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EResearch and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation (RIS3)\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Getting more social and economic returns on taxpayers\u2019 money from investments in research and innovation is the basic message. Successful companies and a competent and well-paid workforce increase \u003Cem\u003Eper se\u003C\/em\u003E the quality of life in a region, and also generate the taxes and competences needed for the inclusive development of the society.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Better-informed and more consensual investment strategies mean less-risky research projects, attract more public and private funds, and are thus more likely to contribute to a more competitive and innovative regional economy - if the governance structures are right, and if the local companies are able to apply the results to their own business activities.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere is this new cohesion policy approach working well?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We see that this new approach is already bearing fruit, has triggered motivating and motivated initiatives in the regions, but, not surprisingly, there is still a long and bumpy road ahead. In general, there is more progress on the side of the advanced regions, but good examples can also be found in smaller countries like Estonia or Latvia, or southern and eastern regions, which we have highlighted in our report.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We definitively see progress in policy cooperation too. At EU level between different Commission services by, for example, jointly developing guidance documentation, but also between the regions. The \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EVanguard Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, for example, takes the ERDF funding obtained through Smart Specialisation as a starting base. With additional own funds and optimising the use of other EU funding programmes, Vanguard regions aim to optimise the synergies and complementarities in their Smart Specialisation strategies to boost world-class clusters and networks. For example, they cooperate in life sciences, making renewable energies more accessible, for example the transport of hydrogen, or bio-based materials, or in 3D printing where Flanders (Belgium) is world class.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnd that\u2019s exactly what the policy was meant to achieve?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Yes, and it is not necessarily a question of money, but also of a change of mindsets, of policy approach, of process. In developing Smart Specialisation strategies there is an important participative process, which is called the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process. You involve the different actors in your innovation system to find out what their strengths really are, and where they see the most promising development potential. In my region, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg (Germany), where less than 1 % of funding for private and public research and innovation comes from the ERDF contribution, the government had organised a competition called \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/regiowin.eu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ERegioWIN\u003C\/a\u003E. No top-down decision was made on what would be an appropriate geographic size or consortium size to apply for the funding. Rather, the people could decide what they considered a functional region, and where they could implement their contributions to help in the overall development of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg.\u2019\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018It is not necessarily a question of money, but also of a change of mindsets.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr G\u00fcnter Clar, Chairman, Smart Specialisation Assessment Expert Group\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat needs to be done to replicate this in other regions?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The mixed results with Smart Specalisation so far do not come as a surprise given the EU reality, where few regions invest more than 3 % of their gross domestic product in research and innovation and this figure is barely 0.5 % in less developed regions. Our assessment showed that, across the EU, key differences in Smart Specialisation success can be related to competences and governance. Independent of the so-called traditional improvement potential in the different regions, it is key to invest more in capacity building - strategic, methodological and also management - because weaknesses in these fields are the source for many deficiencies in the development and implementation of research and innovation strategies. We could, for example, rely on the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/home\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ESmart Specialisation Platform\u003C\/a\u003E based at the EU\u2019s Joint Research Centre in Seville (Spain), which already supports regions with guiding tools and organises peer reviews successfully. A diversification of their training offers could bring progress concerning capacity building, specific needs of specific groups of regions, or other challenges identified so far.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESo it\u2019s teaching Europe\u2019s regions a different approach?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Yes, and we have elaborated a long list of recommendations \u2013 operational, strategic, and policy ones. Some mean just learning from successful examples, and some mean fundamental structural changes. Participative decision approaches, for example, such as the one underlying Smart Specialisation, are currently not mainstream, neither in the regions nor in Brussels. Broader participation means that some people will have more influence on research and innovation investments than earlier \u2013 for the benefit of their regions in the long run. During the transition phase, however, the changes in roles and influence could be difficult and need time.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-ehmpfnhtoliwujbe74c5wfm3jmexivezs-tatde2its\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-EhmpFnHtOLiwujbE74C5wfM3jmexivEZs_taTDE2ITs\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]