COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Strengthening Innovation in Europe's Regions: Towards resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth at territorial level
Date: 2017-07-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Subjects: EU investment, EU regional policy, citizens' Europe, economic and social cohesion, economic reform, globalisation, innovation, job creation, regional cooperation, sustainable development

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.7.2017  SWD(2017) 264 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Strengthening Innovation in Europe's Regions: Towards resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth at territorial level  {COM(2017) 376 final}  
 
 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Table of Contents 

1 

2 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4 

Smart Specialisation – regional partnerships for innovation, growth and jobs ....................... 6 

2.1 

The need for smart specialisation .................................................................................... 6 

2.1.1  Boosting investment in research and innovation ................................................ 7 

2.1.2  The diversity of performance of regional innovation systems across Europe ................. 9 

2.1.3  The position of the European institutions ..................................................... 11 

2.1.4  Public consultation on smart specialisation  .................................................. 11 

2.2 

The RIS3 approach ........................................................................................................ 12 

2.2.1  The history of smart specialisation ............................................................ 12 

2.2.2  A place-based policy approach ................................................................ 13 

2.2.3  Addressing weaknesses in the delivery of regional innovation policy ....................... 14 

2.3 

Putting in place the right conditions for effective investments ..................................... 16 

2.3.1  RIS3 as an ex-ante conditionality ............................................................. 16 

2.3.2 

Incentives for reform through ex-ante conditionalities ....................................... 17 

2.3.3  RIS3 conditionality has helped address institutional weaknesses in innovation systems. ... 18 

2.3.4  Changes induced by the RIS3 ex-ante conditionality ......................................... 19 

2.4 

Early implementation and expected results ................................................................... 20 

2.4.1  Expected results ................................................................................ 20 

2.4.2 

Investment share in Research and Innovation (R&I) ......................................... 20 

2.4.3  Thematic priorities of regions – Eye@RIS3 .................................................. 21 

2.4.4  Selection of operations and expenditure declared in ESI Funds ............................. 23 

2.4.5  Evidence on implementation through analysis of calls for projects .......................... 24 

2.4.6  The establishment of the S3Platform .......................................................... 25 

2.4.7 

Influence on national and regional systems ................................................... 27 

2.4.8  Overall assessment of achievements .......................................................... 33 

3  Key challenges and next steps: boosting innovation-led growth .......................................... 36 

3.1 

Further reform of research and innovation systems ...................................................... 36 

3.1.1  The contribution of research and innovation to EU economy and productivity growth ..... 36 

3.1.2  The need for reform ............................................................................ 37 

3.1.3  Higher education and VET in smart specialisation ........................................... 39 

3.2 

Increasing cooperation in innovation investment across regions .................................. 42 

3.2.1  Rationale for transnational, interregional, cross-border cooperation ......................... 42 

3.2.2  Addressing fragmentation and creating innovation investments in value chains ............ 42 

2 

 
 
 
 
3.2.3  RIS3 in European Territorial Cooperation .................................................... 45 

3.2.4  Macro-regional strategies ...................................................................... 45 

3.2.5  European-level support for smart specialisation investment across borders ................. 47 

3.2.6  Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms ..................................................... 49 

3.2.7  RIS3 and the link to Digital Innovation Hubs and other innovation infrastructures ......... 53 

3.2.8  Maturity of mechanisms to support investment in innovation across borders: .............. 54 

3.3 

Leveraging research and innovation in less developed and industrial transition regions
55 

3.3.1  Tailoring through RIS3 leads to address specific bottlenecks in less developed regions .... 55 

3.3.2  Mutual learning on design and implementation ............................................... 57 

3.4 

Harnessing synergies and complementarities between EU policies and instruments ... 58 

3.4.1  Mechanisms for synergies ..................................................................... 61 

3.4.2  Progress on synergies .......................................................................... 62 

3.4.3 

Initiatives to promote synergies ............................................................... 63 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
1 

INTRODUCTION 

Europe  is  experiencing  a  momentous  period  of  change.  Globalisation,  automation, 
decarbonisation, emerging and digital technologies: all have an impact on jobs, industrial 
sectors, business models, the economy and the society as a whole. It is indispensable to 
help Europeans adapt to these profound changes and to help the EU economy to become 
more  resilient.  In  its  Reflection  Paper  on  Harnessing  Globalisation1,  the  Commission 
highlighted the opportunities and challenges that Europe's citizens and regions are facing. 
This  means  anticipating  and  managing  the  modernisation  of  existing  economic  and 
societal  structures  bearing  in  mind  that  today,  more  than  ever  local  issues  have  gone 
global  and  global  issues  have  become  local.  To  this  end,  Europe  needs  a  long-term 
strategy, involving action at all levels, which triggers a fundamental shift in technology, 
economics and finance.  

The future challenge for EU regions is to be able to compete at the global level with other 
most  advanced  and  emerging  economic  powers  as  they  are  more  than  ever  part  of  a 
globalised  world.  Therefore,  they  need  to  find  ways  to  become  more  resilient  and 
competitive  by  taking  concrete  actions  at  EU,  national  and  local  levels  while  ensuring 
that the benefits of globalisation are shared. 

Many  European  regions  are  well  positioned  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities 
offered  by  globalisation.  However,  the  Commission's  reflection  paper  on  globalisation2 
stressed  that  the  competitiveness  and  innovation  divide  between  some  advanced  EU 
regions and less strong regions is widening. Vulnerable regions can still be found across 
Europe in Southern or Central and Eastern Europe. Identify the potential of these regions 
and  focusing  on  reinforcing  their  local  strengths,  narrowing  development  gaps,  and 
boosting competitiveness can help strengthen resilience to globalisation. Special attention 
should also be paid to the resilience of rural areas, which are at risk of being left behind 
by globalisation and demographic change. 

Innovation  clusters  that  link  up  companies,  universities,  start-ups,  investors  and  local 
governments must be further developed and linked up across Europe. The EU and their 
regions should invest more in the emerging industries and workers of the future, focusing 
on new and advanced manufacturing technologies and related industrial services to drive 
innovation. EU regions should position themselves in global value chains and help their 
businesses  move  up  along  the  value-chain  and  further  exploit  their  comparative 
advantages. 

In  order  to  do  so,  regions  should  further  strengthen  links  between  stakeholders  and 
infrastructures  across  different  European  countries  to  exploit  synergies.  Interregional 
cooperation can play an essential role in this direction. Sharing costs between companies 
within  value  chains  and  sectors  in  an  open  innovation  community  would  allow  the 
development  of  new  processes  and  provide  the  means  to  succeed  in  a  comprehensive 
way.  This  would  permit  many  industries,  and  in  particular  their  SMEs,  to  develop 
processes  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  develop  on  their  own  because  of  a  lack  of 
resources.  

In  order  to  boost  Europe’s  competitiveness,  it  will  also  be  necessary  to  find  additional 
private  investment  across  all  sectors,  provide  better  access  to  finance  (especially  for 
SMEs and start-ups that develop most of the innovations) and increase access to foreign 
markets towards boosting EU exports. Openness to foreign investment is also key for the 

1   European Commission's Reflection Paper on Harnessing Globalisation - COM(2017) 240 final.  
2  

Ibid. 

4 

 
                                                            
EU and a major source of growth  – as is to provide investment-friendly regulatory and 
business  framework  conditions  as  well  as  develop  critical  infrastructure  (including  for 
digitalisation, energy and transport). 

Globalisation  is  a  shared  task  between  the  EU and  its  Member  States  and  regions.  The 
table  below  –  from  the  European  Commission’s  reflection  paper  on  harnessing 
globalisation3 – shows how each level can contribute to make this process successful. 

Graph 1: Contribution of each level of governance to harnessing globalisation 

In conclusion, it is difficult to predict what globalisation will look like in ten years' time 
as  technologies  and  their  uses  are  changing  rapidly.  However,  by  strengthening 
cooperation between different levels of government, Europe can help its regions to move 
up  global  value  chains,  stimulate  the  private  sector  and  target  investment  on  key 
priorities and challenges, while preventing brain drain and rural flight. 

This requires a concerted effort at EU, national and regional level to broaden the base for 
innovation, better target private and public resources and increase synergies. This entails 
not only better links within the Single Market and the European Research Area but also 
new  opportunities  for  businesses  to  build  on  regional  strengths  to  develop  and  grow 
within global value chains and markets and in this way to seize the opportunities created 
by globalisation.  

In 2010 the Commission called on national and regional governments to develop smart 
specialisation  strategies  (RIS3)  for  research  and  innovation  (R&I)4  to  encourage  all 

3   Op cit. 
4   COM(2010) 553 final "Regional Policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020. 

5 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
to  discover 

their  competitive  advantage5.  This  new  "smart 
European  regions 
specialisation" approach became the basis for research and innovation investment under 
the  European  Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF)  for  the  programming  period  2014-
2020. The Council of the EU and the European Parliament have highlighted the need to 
further build on this approach6. 

The purpose of this staff working document is to provide a first overview of the evidence 
and  draw  lessons  on  R&I  strategies  for  Smart  Specialisation  (RIS3)  and  their 
contribution  to  more  efficient  and  effective  national  and  R&I  systems  that  support 
competitiveness  and  cohesion  as  well  as  broader  research  and  industrial  policy 
objectives, in the context of globalisation. 

The  document  presents  the  smart  specialisation  approach  and  how  it  evolved  from  a 
theoretical  concept  to  tool  for  the  implementation  of  national  and  regional  innovation 
policy in all European Union regions7 irrespective of their economic development level, 
innovation  performance,  governance  structure,  research  capabilities  or  business 
environment. It also examines how the prerequisites (ex-ante conditionalities) necessary 
for smart specialisation have been applied.  

The staff working document assesses the current state of play as regards the design and 
implementation of smart specialisation strategies in the EU. It also shows how the smart 
specialisation approach is being applied in other parts of the world such as Australia and 
Latin America. 

Finally,  it  examines  the  contribution  of  smart  specialisation  to  the  reform  of  European 
R&I systems and how, by adopting a tailored approach it has helped to build capacity in 
Europe's  regions  and  facilitate  investment  across  regions.  It provides  a  state  of  play on 
the complementarities and synergies between EU instruments. 

2  SMART SPECIALISATION – REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS FOR INNOVATION, GROWTH 

AND JOBS 

2.1  The need for smart specialisation 

Innovation is recognised as one of the main economic drivers for boosting jobs, growth 
and investment in the White Paper on the Future of Europe8 and is essential for achieving 
the  political  priorities  of  the  Juncker  Commission9.  Innovation  is  a  precondition  for 
job-creating  growth"10. 
to  higher  productivity  and 
"sustainable  and 
competitiveness while offering social and environmental benefits.11  

leads 

It 

5   Knowledge  Economists  Policy  Brief  n°  9  June  2009,  Knowledge  for  Growth  Expert  Group,  Smart 

Specialisation – The Concept Dominique Foray, Paul A. David and Bronwyn Hall. 

6   Council  Conclusions  2016  on  A  more  R&I  friendly,  smart  and  simple  Cohesion  Policy  and  the 
European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  more  generally,  European  Parliament  resolution  of  14 
January  2014  on  smart  specialisation:  networking  excellence  for  a  sound  Cohesion  Policy 
(2013/2094(INI)),  European  Parliament  resolution  of  13  September  2016  on  Cohesion  Policy  and 
Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) (2015/2278(INI)) 
"Regional  Innovation  Patterns  and  the  EU  Regional  Policy  Reform:  Toward  Smart  Innovation 
Policies" 
2013 
- 
Capello 
Camagni, 
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/grow.12012/full 

change, 

Growth 

and 

7  

R 

R 

- 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/jobs-growth-and-investment_en   

8   COM 2017(2025) final 
9 
10   https://ec.europa.eu/commission/publications/president-junckers-political-guidelines_it   
11   Oslo  Manual, 

Scientific 
The  Measurement 
https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/library/oslo-manual-third-edition  

and 

of 

Technological  Activities 

6 

 
                                                            
2.1.1  Boosting investment in research and innovation 

Despite the fact that the target for Member States to invest 3% of their GDP on R&I is 
one of the priorities of Europe 2020 strategy12, the aggregate share of R&I investments 
within  the  EU  is  still  lower  than  in  countries  such  the  USA,  Japan  and  South  Korea. 
Within  the  EU,  gross  domestic  expenditure  on  R&D  as  a  percentage  of  GDP  varies 
considerably  from  country  to  country  with  Sweden,  Austria  and  Denmark  spending  a 
high  percentage  of  their  GDP  on  R&D  and  Eastern  and  Southern  European  countries 
lagging behind with lower expenditure.  

Graph 2: Gross domestic expenditure on R&D as % of GDP 

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Source: Eurostat 2017 

2005

2015

South Korea and Japan have an increasing performance lead over the EU. In particular 
their  relative  strength  is  in  business  R&D  expenditures,  innovation  collaboration  and 
procurement.  The  top  R&D  spending  enterprises  invest  twice  as  much  on  R&D  as  top 
EU enterprises. Australia, Canada and the United States have a decreasing performance 
lead over the EU. However, Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa are catching 
up. In particular China increased its R&D expenditure and the number of Trademark and 
Design applications.  

12   http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/europe-2020-in-a-nutshell/priorities/smart-growth/index_en.htm   

7 

 
 
                                                            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Graph 3: Global performance (bars show countries' performance in 2016 relative to that of 
the EU in 2010)  

While the EU hosts a high number of high level PhDs, their research is weakly connected 
to the market. Their employment is almost equally shared between the public and private 
sector,  whereas  in  competitor-countries  the  percentage  of  researchers  employed  within 
the private sector is higher. 

Graph 4: Researchers share in the business and public sectors in third countries compared 
to the EU. 

Source: Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU 2016 

2.1.2  The diversity of performance of regional innovation systems across Europe 

Well performing innovation systems are found in Member States and regions which are 
better  developed  and  are  more  competitive.  There  is  a  close  correlation  between  R&D 
performance  ("Regional  Innovation  Scoreboard")  and  economic  performance  ("EU 
Regional  Competitiveness  Index").  Without  research  and  regional  policies  working 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
closely together to encourage knowledge absorption, lagging regions and countries may 
never be able to converge to the technology frontier13. 

Graph 5: EU regions performance in terms of innovation and competitiveness  

Source: EU Regional Competitiveness Index, 2016 and Regional Innovation Scoreboard Report, 2017 

More  than  half  of  the  total  potential  for  productivity  growth  in  developed  countries 
comes  from  "catching  up"  innovation.  Given  the  different  level  of  economic 
development  in  which  EU  innovation  actors  operate,  European  policies  need  to  take 
account of the differing situations in Member States and regions and, in particular, should 
target  the  needs  of  both  developed  and  less  developed  economies.14  Cohesion  Policy 
therefore takes account of the specific needs of less developed15 Member States and the 
need to support broad based innovation. This is in line with the recommendations of the 
2017  Annual  Growth  Survey,  which  highlights  the  need  to  improve  the  interaction 
between  research  and  business  and  to  encourage  reforms  of  weak  research  and 
innovation systems in Member States.16 

As  conditions  differ  from  region  to  region,  innovation  needs  to  be  embedded  in  local 
business knowledge that is often concentrated in clusters of related industries, but linked 
to high quality research across Europe to enable the swift diffusion and application of the 
knowledge  created.  By  bringing  together  a  broad  range  of  businesses,  researchers  and 
public actors as part of a prioritisation and experimentation process and connecting them 

13   Aghion,  P.  and  Jaravel,  X.    2015  The  Economic  Journal,  "Knowledge  Spillovers,  Innovation  and 

Growth" 125, p. 536 

14   Aghion,  "From Growth Theory To Growth Policy Design" (2012) 
15   According to the EU Cohesion Policy, regions are classified under 3 groups according to their GDP : 
less  developed  regions  (where  GDP  per  inhabitant  was  less  than  75  %  of  the  EU-27  average); 
transition regions (where GDP per inhabitant was between 75 % and 90 % of the EU-27 average); and 
more developed regions (where GDP per inhabitant was more than 90 % of the EU-27 average). 

16   COM (2016) 725 p.8 

9 

 
  
 
 
 
                                                            
with new research ideas, smart specialisation can build on Europe's diversity of regional 
and local strengths.  

The  process  of  designing  and  implementing  smart  specialisation  strategies  ensures  that 
public resources are targeted at areas which are likely to bring the best returns in terms of 
raising  the  level  of  innovation  in  all  parts  of  Europe.  This  is  achieved  by  addressing 
weaknesses  in  innovation  systems  and  reinforcing  the  institutional  capacity  to  bring 
research  to  market  and  trigger  an  uptake  of  innovation,  notably  in  less-developed 
Member States. 

2.1.3  The position of the European institutions 

The European Parliament expressed its support for smart specialisation in  its resolution 
of 8 September 201617, and proposed to the European Commission and to Member States 
to  implement  further  actions  in  order  to  make  smart  specialisation  become  more 
effective.  It  also  noted  in  its  Resolution  of  6  July  2016  that  synergies  for  innovation 
between Structural Funds and Horizon 2020 and other policies and instruments must be 
further  enhanced  in  order  to  maximise  the  impact  of  investments.  It  further  called  for 
continued  efforts  to  boost  inter-regional  collaboration  and  recalled  the  importance  of 
innovation  systems,  institutions  and  the  linkages  to  local  and  regional  clusters  in  its 
report of 27 April 2016 on Cohesion Policy and smart specialisation strategies.18  

The Council, in its conclusions of 24 June 2016, called for "a more R&I friendly, smart 
and  simple  Cohesion  Policy  and  the  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  more 
generally",  and  recognised  that  "smart  specialisation  strategies  could  be  powerful 
instruments  for  contributing  to  tackling  societal  challenges,  and  boosting  innovation, 
investment and competitiveness, based on socio-economic and territorial specificities". It 
called  on  the  European  Commission  "to  give  continued  support  to  Member  States  and 
regions when developing and implementing smart specialisation strategies". The Council 
Conclusions  of  4  December  2014  on  the  industrial  competitiveness  agenda19  had  also 
already recommended smart specialisation as an approach to prioritising investments and 
reiterated  the  importance  of  clusters  and  partnerships  and  the  Presidency  report  of  16 
November 2015 on  mainstreaming  competitiveness also acknowledged  the contribution 
of clustering and smart specialisation strategies.20 

In addition, the European Commission has launched many initiatives at EU level which 
identify smart specialisation as relevant for structural reforms21 and for various policies 
such as energy22, digital23, industrial24 policies and for the circular economy25.  
2.1.4  Results of the public consultation on smart specialisation 26 

The importance of smart specialisation strategies is also highlighted by the replies of 237 
respondents to the public consultation launched by the Commission in December 2016. 

17    http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+P8-RC-2016-

0851+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN 

18   http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A8-2016-

0159+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN 

19   http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/workarea/downloadAsset.aspx?id=40802190565 
20   http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13989-2015-INIT/en/pdf 
21   COM(2013) 882 or COM(2012) 392 
22   COM(2015) 572, COM(2016) 51 
23   COM(2016) 180, COM(2016) 410 
24  COM(2014) 14, COM(2012) 341, COM(2012) 537, COM(2013) 542 
25   COM(2015) 614 
26   http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/newsroom/consultations/smart-specialisation 

10 

 
                                                            
73 %  of  the  respondents  think  it  is  ‘most  and  very  important  to  implement  European 
strategic priorities in focus areas in regions’, 70 % think it is ‘most and very important to 
have a bottom-up agenda for European growth & jobs’, 68 % think it is ‘most and very 
important that all types of regions can participate (advanced, research intensive regions 
and  lagging  regions)’  as  well  as  alignment  between  complementary  efforts  in  different 
countries and regions (64%). 

The three most important objectives of RIS3 according to the respondents are: 

  creating jobs and growth through place-based R&I investments (84%), 

  enabling  businesses  and  researchers  to  develop  investment  projects  together 

(72%)  

 

the economic transformation of the region (e.g. towards new sectors) (68%). 

The  vast  majority  (94 %)  of  respondents  to  the  public  consultation  think  that  it  is 
important  ‘to  a  great  extent’  (74 %)  or  ‘to  some  extent’  (20 %)  to  put  in  place  RIS3 
strategies with priorities about which businesses, academia and public stakeholders have 
been consulted before funding is allocated. 

Supporters  and  implementers  of  innovation  alike  observed  a  significant  increase  in  the 
participation of clusters or business associations (75% and 66% respectively) and higher 
education institutions (68% and 76%) in the innovation ecosystem  

In  terms  of  the  first  early  impact  of  smart  specialisation  strategies  on  the  research  and 
innovation  infrastructure  or  support  services,  the  greatest  improvements  in  the  support 
offered  was  observed  for  networking  and  cooperation  (62%  for  finding  partners  within 
the  country  and  54%  for  partners  abroad),  for  industrial  research  activities  (55%)  and 
experimental development/prototyping (49%) and for better access to researchers (53%) 
and R&I infrastructures and R& I service providers (55%). Important improvements have 
also  been  observed  for  technology  transfer  (47%)  and  digitization  of  enterprises  and 
processes  (42%)  whereas  no  overall  improvements  were  observed  for  the  regulatory 
framework. 

2.2  The RIS3 approach 

2.2.1  The history of smart specialisation  

Smart specialisation (RIS3) is an innovation policy approach that aims to boost national 
and regional innovation, contributing to growth and prosperity by helping and enabling 
Member States and regions to focus on their strengths. RIS3 brings together the research 
community,  business,  higher  education,  public  authorities  and  civil  society.  These 
partners  identify  strengths  in  their  region,  and  prioritise  support  based  on  where  local 
potential and market opportunities lie (the "Entrepreneurial Discovery Process" - EDP). 
To  help  with  this  process,  RIS3  seeks  to  improve  governance  at  regional  and  national 
level, concentrate resources, build critical mass, and accelerate the uptake of new ideas.  

The smart specialisation strategy concept was developed by the European Commission's 
high-level expert group "Knowledge for Growth" in 2005-200927, closely related to the 
concept of clusters28, and was originally designed to tackle two main issues:  

27   "Knowledge  Economists  Policy  Brief  No  9"  June  2009 

  http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-

28 

for 

research/pdf/download_en/kfg_policy_brief_no9.pdf 
at 
See, 
http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/16903/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/pdf, 
the 
expert  group  report  on  "The  role  of  clusters  in  smart  specialisation  strategies"  (2013)  available  at 

Smart  Guide 

to  Cluster 

available 

instance, 

(2016) 

Policy 

the 

11 

 
                                                            
 
  The  fragmentation  of  public  research  systems  unable  to  compete  independently 

on a global scale; 

  The duplication of research work which leads to a scattering of resources across 

the European Research Area.  

During  the  reform  of  cohesion  policy  for  the  period  2014-2020,  the  concept  was 
extended  in  order  to  encourage  regional  economic  transformation.  It  was  also 
incorporated into EU regional policy as a key principle of investment in R&I. 

In  its  2010  Communication  "Regional  Policy  Contributing  to  Smart  Growth  in  Europe 
2020"29, the Commission called on national and regional governments to develop smart 
specialisation strategies (RIS3). Following its inclusion in the regulatory framework for 
Cohesion  Policy  2014-2020  through  the  introduction  of  specific  ex-ante  conditionality, 
this  new  approach  became  the  basis  for  research  and  innovation  investment  under  the 
European Regional Development Fund. 

Smart Specialisation strategies are defined in point (3) of Article 2 of the Regulation (EU) No 1303/201330 
of the European Parliament and of the Council: 

"Smart  Specialisation  Strategy  (S3)"  means  the  national  or  regional  innovation  strategies  which  set 
priorities  in  order  to  build  competitive  advantage  by  developing  and  matching  research  and  innovation 
own strengths to business needs in order to address emerging opportunities and market developments in a 
coherent manner, while avoiding duplication and fragmentation of efforts; a smart specialisation strategy 
may  take  the  form of,  or be included  in,  a national  or  regional research  and  innovation  (R&I)  strategic 
policy framework." 

2.2.2  A place-based policy approach 
Innovation  still  depends  very  much  on  location.31  Smart  specialisation  has  been 
implemented in high-performing32, middle income33,34 and less-developed Member States 
or regions.35,36 Conceived within the reformed EU Cohesion Policy, smart specialisation 
is a place-based policy promoting investment in innovative activities in selected areas to 
achieve  a  smart,  inclusive  and  sustainable  growth  in  line  with  the  EU's  Europe  2020 
growth strategy. Using local knowledge and learning reflects the overall justification for 

https://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/other_reports_studies_and_documents/clusters_
smart_spec2013.pdf  and  the  2008  Communication  and  Staff  Working  Document  on  clusters, 
COM(2008) 652 final/2 and SEC(2008) 2637. 

29   COM(2010) 553 final. 
30   Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 
31   "Opportunity now: Europe's mission to innovate" European Commission" European Political Strategy 

Centre, 2016  
https://ec.europa.eu/epsc/publications/strategic-notes/opportunity-now-europe%E2%80%99s-
mission-innovate_en  

32   "Smart Specialization as an innovation-driven strategy for economic diversification: Examples from 
Scandinavian  regions"  -  Asheim,  Bjørn,  Grillitsch,  Markus  and  Trippl,  Michaela  –  Paper  in 
Innovation studies (2016) -  
http://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/201623_asheim_et_al.pdf  

33   "How  to  Improve  Innovation  Strategies  for  Smart  Specialization  in  Poland"  –  World  Bank  (2014) 
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/17839/865270WP0MIR0R00Box3851
76B00PUBLIC0.pdf  

34   "Smart 

specialization 

in 

Croatia" 

- 

World 

Bank 

(2015) 

- 

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/22024/9781464804588.pdf;sequence=
1 

35   "Smart Specialisation in less advanced regions: What are the key challenges" - Igo Rotaru, EURINT 

(2015) - http://cse.uaic.ro/eurint/proceedings/index_htm_files/EURINT2015_ROT.pdf  

36   "Smart  Specialisation:  Creating  Growth  through  Trans-national  cooperation  and  Value  Chains"  -  

Mariussen Åge, Rakhmatullin Ruslan, Stanionyte Lina – JRC Policy Report (2016). 

12 

 
                                                                                                                                                                                 
 
 
using a local and regional place-based development policy approach to cohesion policy, 
rather than employing a space-neutral or purely sectorial approach.37  

The  smart  specialisation  approach  therefore  identifies  strategic  areas  for  intervention, 
based both on the analysis of the strengths and potential of the regional economies and on 
a process of entrepreneurial discovery38 with wide stakeholder involvement. It embraces 
a  broad  view  of  innovation  that  goes  beyond  research-oriented  and  technology-based 
activities,  and  requires  a  sound  intervention  strategy  supported  by  effective  monitoring 
mechanisms.  

Lessons learned from targeted RIS3 support in EU Member States and their regions 

In Poland, for instance, the Slaskie Region initiated its first innovation strategy for 2003-2013 on which it 
could  rely,  whereas  Wielkopolskie,  which  never  had  strong  specialisation,  needed  to  start  the 
entrepreneurial  discovery  process  leading  to  the  regional  smart  specialisation  strategy,  through 
comprehensive research and analysis of the existing conditions. 

Latvia where smart specialisation was a new concept started with a comprehensive research on the sectors 
of the economy, related research capacity, business composition and advantages of the Member State. In 
close cooperation among the public sector, academia and business priority areas39 were chosen and further 
developed though a continuous entrepreneurial discovery process combined with structural reforms of the 
research institutions and higher education institutions as well as by reviewing the tax regime for innovative 
companies.     

In Denmark and Sweden, with highly developed innovation and business structures, the process approach 
was  to  detect  systematically  the  inter-linkages  and  opportunities  of  the  existing  regional  and  national 
innovation  and  development  strategies  rather  than  to  identify  e.g.  specific  sectors  as  object  for  public 
intervention to promote smart specialisation. 

Finland,  as  a  leader  in  innovation,  continues  the  smart  specialisation  approach  in  open,  inclusive  and 
participative  method  building  on  the  existing  advantages.  An  excellent  example  is  Oulu  Innovation 
Alliance  that  was  created  when  the  city  faced  a  serious  structural  change  caused  by  big  ICT  companies 
moving out of the city and thousands of jobs were lost. The aim of the alliance was to develop a Northern 
innovation  ecosystem  through  cooperation  between  public  sector,  research  and  educational  sector  and 
companies that integrates top expertise and resources from selected fields. This approach helped Oulu to 
create 2000 new jobs, establish 300 new start-ups in the knowledge-intensive growth sectors, and develop 
new ICT sub-sectors that made the ICT sector in the region more flexible, agile and resilient to possible 
structural changes.   

Each  region,  no  matter  the  type  or  level  of  its  socio-economic  endowment,  can  in  this 
way find its own way to sustainable and inclusive growth40 taking into consideration EU 
strategic  goals.  For  example,  a  carbon  intensive  region  could  focus  on  transforming 
experience  and  technology  in  traditional  activities  into  greener  economic  activities  that 
require similar competences and which are set to grow in the future in the context of EU 
policy priorities. 

37   Philip  McCann  &  Raquel  Ortega-Argilés  (2015)  Smart  Specialization,  Regional  Growth  and 
to  European  Union  Cohesion  Policy,  Regional  Studies  https://danube-

Applications 
inco.net/object/document/1517/attach/s3_mccann_ortega.pdf  

38   "Governing  Smart  Specialisation"  -  Dimitrios  Kyriakou,  Manuel  Palazuelos  Martínez,  Inmaculada 

Periáñez-Forte, Alessandro Rainoldi – Regional Studies Association 

39   "Mapping  Innovation  Priorities  and  Specialisation  Patterns  in  Europe"  -  Jens  Sörvik  and Alexander 

Kleibrink – DG JRC Working Paper 2015. 
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/-/mapping-innovation-priorities-and-specialisation-patterns-in-
europe  

40   "Smart  Specialisation.  Opportunities  and  Challenges  for  Regional  Innovation  Policy",  Dominique 

Foray, 2015   

13 

 
                                                            
 
2.2.3  Addressing weaknesses in the delivery of regional innovation policy 

If  properly  designed  through  an  interactive  bottom-up  process  involving  most  of  the 
innovation actors on a territory, smart specialisation can help address weaknesses in the 
delivery of innovation policy in Europe. These include the following: 

Weaknesses in the delivery of regional innovation policy: 

  Lack of prioritisation and poor resource allocation - The Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) 
is perhaps the most distinctive feature of the smart specialisation approach. Such a mechanism makes 
it possible: (i) to identify precisely (at the level of a single activity or system of activities) the market 
failures  affecting  the  local  economy  and  (ii)  direct  policy  intervention  exclusively  towards  those 
targets  41.  This  is opposed  to  the  previous  situation (pre-RIS3),  where  it  was  not possible  for  public 
authorities to identify specific market failures and needs of the local economic system – meaning that 
the  only  option  was  to  use  horizontal  measures  (acting  across  activities,  but  with  no  differentiation 
between them42. 

  Weak microeconomic governance in the EU Member States and regions – evidence based policy and 
investment  decision  making  which  is  informed  by  tacit  knowledge  of  innovation  actors  is  often  not 
available in the public domain43. 

  Barriers  to  the  uptake  of  new  ideas  –  inflexible  governance  mechanisms44  hamper  the  process  of 

bringing new products and services into market. 

  Mismatch  of  EU  research  strengths  and  business  needs  –  the  failure  to  exploit  the  wealth  of 
knowledge  existing  in  the  EU  to  increase  the  competitiveness  of  EU  businesses  and  accelerate  the 
uptake of solutions to tackle societal challenges. 

  Lack of strategic alignment of investment pipelines in industry and research, in both the private and 

public sector. This leads to scattered, fragmented and duplicated investments.  

  Lack  of  information  flows  across  business  sectors,  scientific  disciplines  and  EU  territories  – 

increasing the degree of information asymmetry. 45 

  Lack of interregional cooperation between innovation actors across EU – failing to exploit the EU 
single market's potential to improve collaboration between innovation actors in related activities. 46 

  Weaknesses  in  EU  value  chains  –  opportunities  for  demonstration  projects  and  for  scaling  up  of 

initiatives are missed due to lack of economies of scale and scope47. 

  Low  leverage  effect  of  EU  funding  –  a  failure  to  attract  private  investors  to  realistic  and  bankable 

innovation initiatives.48. 

41   "Smart  Specialisation:  Opportunities  and  Challenges  for  Regional  Innovation  Policy"  -  Foray,  D. 

(2015) – Regional Studies Association 

42   "The  goals  of  Smart  Specialisation"-  Dominique  Foray  and  Xabier  Goenaga  –  JRC  Policy  Brief 

(2013) - http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/-/the-goals-of-smart-specialisation  

43   "From  smart  specialisation  to  smart  experimentation: Towards  a new  theoretical  framework for  EU 
- 

-  Zeitschrift  für  Wirtschaftsgeographie  (2014) 

regional  policy  "-  Maximilian  Benner 
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/51843/1/MPRA_paper_51843.pdf 

44   "Implementing  Smart  Specialisation  Strategies:  A  Handbook"  -  Ed.  Carlo  Gianelle,  Dimitris 
Kiriakou,  Caroline  Cohen,  Marek  Przeor  Publication  –  European  Commission  (2016)  - 
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/s3-implementation-handbook  

45   "Smart Specialisation and Innovation in Rural Areas"  - Artur da Rosa Pires, Martina Pertoldi, John 
Edwards and Fatime  Barbara Hegyi  – JRC Policy Brief (2014)  - http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/-
/smart-specialisation-and-innovation-in-rural-areas  

46   "Smart  Specialisation:  Creating  Growth  through  Trans-national  cooperation  and  Value  Chains"  
Mariussen Åge; Rakhmatullin Ruslan; Stanionyte Lina  – European Commission JRC Policy Report 
(2016). 

47   "Regional  Competitiveness  and  Smart  Specialization  in  Europe:  Place-based  development  in 

international economic networks " - M Thissen, F van Oort, D Diodato, A Ruijs (2013) 

48   "The  Regional  and  Urban  Policy  of  the  European  Union:  Cohesion,  Results  Orientation  and  Smart 

Specialisation", McCann (2015) 

14 

 
                                                            
By addressing these issues in the delivery of support for innovation under the European 
Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), smart specialisation can contribute to boosting 
overall growth and jobs, and help respond to globalisation. At a more specific regional 
level,  smart  specialisation  can  –  by  improving  the  prospects  of  specific  regions  and 
Member  States  for  growth  and  economic  transformation  –  also  reduce  disparities 
between the levels of development in the various regions and help the less-developed or 
lagging regions to progress.  

It  will  also  contribute  to  building  specialisation  in  the  Single  Market  as  a  whole, 
broadening innovation and contributing to industrial competitiveness goals. This applies 
to both well-established sectors such as agri-food, tourism, textile and those at the global 
technology 
in  energy,  environment,  nano-tech,  and  health.  Public 
administrations can use their purchasing power to play an important complementary role 
by  encouraging  transformative  technological  change  and  the  uptake  of  innovation 
through their purchasing power.  

frontiers 

Such  activities  offer  regions  the  opportunity  to  diversify  and  develop  new  industrial 
activities  by  capitalising  on  emerging  and  key  enabling  technologies  (KETs)49,  digital 
transformation50, service innovation, resource-efficient solutions and other breakthrough 
innovations that cover all and new forms such as open and user-led, public sector, frugal 
and  social  innovation.  In  addition,  the  bio-economy  and  the  transition  to  a  circular 
economy offer great potential for growth. 

2.3  Putting in place the right conditions for effective investments 

2.3.1  RIS3 as an ex-ante conditionality 

A key element of the RIS3 approach in during the 2014-2020 programming period was 
the  requirement  to  define  a  national  or  regional  RIS3  strategy  for  R&I  before  being 
allocated  ERDF  funding.  This  ex-ante  conditionality  was  added  to  the  regulatory 
framework to ensure that the effectiveness of EU investments within the regions was not 
undermined  by  the  absence  of  evidence-based  innovation  priorities  and  the  lack  of 
appropriate institutional framework for R&I.  

Two  thematic  ex-ante  conditionalities  (ExAC)  were  introduced  in  the  area  of  research 
and innovation51: 

R&I: requiring a national or regional smart specialisation strategy that (ExAC 1.1) 

 

 

 
 

is  based  on  a  SWOT  or  similar  analysis  to  concentrate  resources  on  a  limited  set  of  research  and 
innovation priorities (ExAC 1.1.1); 
outlines  measures  to  stimulate  private  research,  technology  and  development  (RTD)  investment 
(ExAC 1.1.2); 
contains a monitoring and review system (ExAC 1.1.3); 
ensures  that  a  Member  State  has  adopted  a  framework  outlining  available  budgetary  resources  for 
research and innovation (ExAC 1.1.4); 

R&I  infrastructure:  requiring  a  multi-annual  plan  for  budgeting  and  prioritisation  of  investments 
(ExAC 1.2) 

49   Jens  Sörvik  &  Ruslan  Rakhmatullin  &  Manuel  Palazuelos-Martinez,  2013.  "Preliminary  report  on 
KETs  priorities  declared  by  regions  in  the  context  of  their  work  on  Research  and  Innovation 
Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3)," JRC Working Papers JRC84659, Joint Research Centre 
(Seville site). https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipt/iptwpa/jrc84659.html  

50   Jens  Sörvik  &  Alexander  Kleibrink,  2014.  "the  Digital  Agenda  Toolbox,"  JRC  Working  Papers 
JRC88896, Joint Research Centre (Seville site). https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipt/iptwpa/jrc88896.html  
51   European  Commission,  Guidance  on  Ex  ante  Conditionalities  for  the  European  Structural  and 

Investment Funds, PART II, February 2014, pg. 4-13 

15 

 
                                                            
The  RIS3  ex-ante  conditionality  applied  to  most  national  or  regional  operational 
programmes  (169  out  of  205)  and  in  all  28  Partnership  Agreements.  It  was  the  most 
frequently  applied  ex-ante  conditionality  at  regional  level.  At  the  time  the  programmes 
were  adopted,  only  20%  of  the  programmes  were  considered  as  fulfilling  ex-ante 
conditionality.  20  member  states  were  required  to  develop  action  plans  to  fulfil  this 
conditionality.  

The following causes have been identified by the  European Commission as responsible 
for a difficult fulfilment of ex-ante conditionality in the area of RIS3: 

  A lack of political commitment to long-term strategies, and difficulties devising a 
bottom-up process of smart specialisation as a way to prioritise investments; 

  The  split  of  responsibilities  between  different  vertical  (national,  regional, 
municipal)  and  horizontal  (between  ministers  and  departments)  levels,  resulting 
in the fragmentation of powers and failed coordination; 

  A  lack  of  effective,  competent  and  adequately  skilled  staff  in  administration 

exacerbated by frequent legislative and institutional changes; 

  Weak  collaboration  between  the  public  and  private  sector  and  thus  little 

commercialisation of public research; 

  An  absence  of  continuity  in  the  entrepreneurial  discovery  process  and  a  lack  of 

key milestones, roadmaps, monitoring mechanism; 

  Tenuous links between financed projects and RIS3 priority areas.  

It  is  likely  that  all  programmes  will  have  fulfilled  their  ex-ante  conditionalities  by  the 
reporting  deadline  of  June  2017.  The  introduction  of  the  RIS3  ex-ante  conditionality52 
has  therefore  demonstrated  the  significant  potential  for  the  improvement  of  the 
governance of national and regional innovation systems in many Member States. 

2.3.2 

Incentives for reform through ex-ante conditionalities 

Ex-ante  conditionalities  (ExAC)  have  been  important  in  terms  of  triggering  reforms. 
They accounted for about 85% of the reform-triggering ExAC in in Member States that 
have joined the EU since 2004. 

Graph 6- Overview of reform triggering Thematic Ex-ante conditionalities  

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0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

0 
0 
0 
X 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

0 
0 
X 
X 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 

0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

0 
0 
9 
12 
19 
0 
0 
4 
20 
2 
0 
0 
19 
16 
0 
4 
11 
0 

52   Ex-ante conditionality 1.1 Research and innovation 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
LV 
MT 
NL 
PL 
PT 
RO 
SE 
SK 
SI 
UK 

X 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
X 
X 
0 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

Total  13  7 

10  8 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

4 

0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 

6 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 

1 

X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

7 

X 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

9 

X 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

8 

X 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

9 

X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

7 

X 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

6 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

3 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

6 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

3 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
x 
0 
0 

5 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
X 
0 

3 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

3 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

2 

X 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

X 
X 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
0 

X 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

11  8 

11  6 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

8 

0 
X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

8 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
X 
0 
X 
0 
0 

8 

X 
0 
0 
0 
X 
X 
0 
X 
X 
0 

11 
4 
1 
12 
1 
23 
0 
11 
11 
0 

10 

190 

Key to table: 
0  No reform triggering effect found 
Reform triggering effect found 
X 

Source: Study "Support of ESI Funds to the implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations and to structural reforms in 
Member States" 

ExAC  1.1  (research  and  innovation)  was  characterised  by  a  strong  reform  impact  and 
high coherence with the European Semester (CSR/structural challenges). Evidence shows 
that  the  RIS3  ex-ante  conditionality  triggered  reforms  in  all  13  Member  States  which 
joined the EU in 2004 or later and two belonging to the EU15 – IT and GR.  53 All these 
Member  States  had  Member  State  specific  recommendations  in  the  European  Semester 
process  in  the  Member  State  Reports  in  the  field  of  research  and  innovation  in  2012-
2015.  In  the  majority  of  the  Member  States,  the  recommendations  on  research  and 
innovation persisted for the whole period.  

The  occurrence  of  reform-triggering  ExACs  was  substantially  higher  in  the  major  (per 
capita)  beneficiary  Member  States  of  the  ESI  Funds,  which  are  also  countries  whose 
level of economic development is below 75% of the EU average.  

In many cases, this conditionality helped to break down silos in multi-agent and multi-
level  governance  and  led  to  new  dynamics  in  setting  priorities  and targets and  creating 
the  relevant  policy  instruments  to  achieve  them.  This  mechanism,  where  public 
administrations listen directly to actors as part of a structured dialogue gives direct and 
unbiased feedback on existing or potential bottlenecks in national/regional R&I systems 
and skills and education needs. 

2.3.3  RIS3 conditionality has helped address institutional weaknesses in innovation 

systems. 

The  effectiveness  of  the  EU  investments  under  cohesion  policy  depends  on  the 
institutional  capacities  in  the  Member  States  through  which  these  investments  are 
channelled  to  the  final  beneficiaries.  The  organisation  of  the  public  sector  and  the 
institutional  relationship  and  cultural  norms  governing  the  relationship  between 
innovation  actors  is  essential  for  economic  performance.  Characteristics  such  as  trust, 
information sharing, common goal setting and mechanisms such as partnerships, clusters, 
stakeholder  involvement  and  transparency  and  anti-corruption  initiatives  provide  the 
basis for sustained economic cooperation. 54  

53   Study "Support of ESI Funds to the implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations and to 

structural reforms in Member States" 

54   See  the  Commission  Staff  Working  Document  SEC  (2016)  318  final  and  the  ex-post  evaluation  of 
Cohesion  Policy  Programmes  20017-2013  Financed  by  the  ERDF  and  the  CF,  Work  package  2 
“Support to SMEs, Increasing research and innovation in SMEs and SME development”, Contract Nr. 
2014CE16BAT002, Final report, 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/evaluation/pdf/expost2013/wp2_final_en.pdf  

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
 
In  this  respect,  the  RIS3  ex-ante  conditionality  has  helped  in  many  regions  to  set  an 
agenda for modern research and innovation institutions that can prioritise investments in 
research and innovation, in particular through its impact of the ex-ante conditionality is 
on  the  governance  and  on  the  behaviour  of  the  stakeholders  in  the  innovation  systems 
while setting-up the RIS3.  
The 6th Cohesion Report (European Commission 2014a)55 summarises several channels 
through  which  poor  governance  limits  the  impact  of  cohesion  policy  on  economic 
growth. In the first place, it can reduce expenditure if programmes fail to invest all the 
funding  available.  Secondly,  it  can  lead  to  a  less  coherent  or  appropriate  strategy  for  a 
country  or  region.  Thirdly,  it  may  lead  to  lower  quality  projects  being  selected  for 
funding or to the best projects not applying for support at all. Fourthly, it may result in a 
lower leverage effect because the private sector is less willing to co-finance investment. 

In  2013  Rodriguez  Pose  and  Garcilazo  (2013)  used  econometric  tools  to  examine  the 
impact  of  both  the  quality  of  government  (measured  by  the  European  Quality  of 
Government  index)  and  EU  Cohesion  Policy  expenditures  on  regional  growth  in  the 
European Union in the period between 1996 and 200756. They found that above a certain 
level of Cohesion Policy transfers, the quality of local government becomes a vital factor 
in  determining  the  extent  to  which  EU  funds  affect  economic  growth:  the  higher  the 
quality  of  government,  the  greater  the  impact.  In  the  regions  with  poor  quality  of 
government,  greater  level  of  cohesion  expenditure  can  only  lead  to  a  marginal 
improvement  of  economic  growth,  unless  the  quality  of  government  is  significantly 
improved. 

There is evidence that the capacity of a regional government in promoting public policies 
and  minimising  corruption  is  relevant  for  the  effectiveness  of  strategies  aimed  at 
improving  innovation.  Regions  with  poor  institutions  can  achieve  significant  gains  in 
terms  of  innovative  performance  as  a  result  of  relatively  small  improvements  in  the 
quality of their governance systems. Good institutions, therefore, seem to be a significant 
pre-condition for the development of the innovative potential of regions and for making 
innovation strategies such as RIS3 work, especially in the periphery of Europe.57 

2.3.4 

 Changes induced by the RIS3 ex-ante conditionality 

The  ex-ante  conditionality  aims  at  improving  performance  of  the  innovation  systems 
concerned through a partnership process requires behavioural changes of all partners and 
stakeholders involved.  According to early evidence based on survey data,58 the ex-ante 
conditionality on smart specialisation triggered the introduction of significant adaptations 
in the stakeholder involvement process (more than 60% of respondents). 

Changes  in  the  behaviour  of  administrations  were  achieved  without  imposing  a  unique 
model  to  be  followed  by  all  regions  and  Member  States  with  substantial  scope  left  for 
adaptation  to  local  specificities.  This  resulted  in  clear  differences  in  the  way  smart 
specialisation  elements  are  articulated  and  implemented  on  the  ground,  revealing 
differences in the starting point of regions and Member States facing a new approach to 
innovation.  

55   http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/reports/cohesion6/6cr_en.pdf 
56   http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/work/2015_02_econ_assess.pdf 
57   Andrés  Rodríguez-Pose,  Marco  di  Cataldo,  Alessandro  Rainoldi,  The  Role  of  Government 
Institutions for Smart Specialisation and Regional Development S3 Policy Brief Series No. 04/2014 
58   Fraunhofer  ISI,  (2013),  Smart  specialisation  approaches:  A  new  policy  paradigm  on  its  way  from 

concept to practice, Karlsruhe. 

18 

 
                                                            
The  majority  of  regions  acknowledge  that  RIS3  has  had  a  positive  impact  on  their 
innovation  policy  governance,  with  better  planning  and  impact  orientation  and  more 
inter-departmental  cooperation  (e.g.  among  the  research,  education  and  industry 
ministries).59 

As  a  result  of  the  action  plans  a  number  of  Member  States  needed  to make  changes  to 
fulfil the preconditions (for example, the need to involve national and regional bodies). 
There  was  a  clear  difference  between  Member  States  with  an  already  established 
structured  strategy  and  Member  States  with  a  weaker  strategic  framework.  Many 
Member  States  or  regions  with  a  strong  tradition  in  innovation  adapted  existing 
strategies.  In  contrast,  EU13  Member  States  developed  their  regional  (e.g.  Poland)  and 
national  strategies  according  to  the  guidelines  of  the  European  Commission.  This 
suggests that the introduction of the RIS3 ex-ante conditionality has significant potential 
for  the  improvement  of  the  governance  of  national  and  regional  innovation  systems  in 
many Member States.  

2.4 

Early implementation and expected results 

2.4.1  Expected results 

During  the  negotiations  on  their  programmes,  EU  Member  States  and  regions  have 
developed  over  120  RIS3  strategies  establishing  priorities  for  research  and  innovation 
investments  in  the  programming  period  2014-20.  Throughout  this  period  an  amount  of 
more  than  EUR  40  billion  (and  more  than  EUR  65 billion  including  national  co-
financing) will be allocated to regions through the European Regional Development Fund 
(ERDF).  Overall,  support  to  research,  innovation  and  entrepreneurship  is  expected  to 
help 15 000 enterprises to introduce new products to market, to support 140 000 start-ups 
and to create 350 000 new jobs by the end of the programme period60. In addition, around 
EUR 2.5 billion is focussed on clusters and business networks and EUR 1.8 billion have 
been  programmed  under  the  European  Social  Fund  (ESF)  for  strengthening  human 
capital in research, technological development and innovation. 

Foreseen outputs for ERDF investment in Research and Innovation 

Number of new researchers in supported entities:   
equivalents  
Number of researchers working in improved research infrastructure facilities: 
equivalents 
Number of enterprises cooperating with research institutions:    
Private investment matching public support in innovation or R&D projects:  
Number of enterprises supported to introduce new to the market products: 
Number of enterprises supported to introduce new to the firm products: 26,938 enterprises  
Number  of  enterprises  participating  in  cross-border,  transnational  or  interregional  research  projects: 

71,252 enterprises  
9,985,491,257 EUR.  
15,385 enterprises 

71,960 full time 

             29,372 

time 

full 

Number of research institutions participating in cross-border,    
transnational or interregional research projects:  

5,177 enterprises 

1,117 research institutions  

The  long-term  impact  of  implementation  of  smart  specialisation  strategies  in  terms  of 
increased  innovation,  job  creation  and  improved  productivity  will  require  a  number  of 
years  and  will  be  examined  as  part  of  the  ongoing  and  ex-post  evaluation  of  Cohesion 
Policy programmes. 

59   See summary of the public consultation on Smart Specialisation. 
60   As 

or 
https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/themes. 

regional 

national 

planned 

the 

in 

operational 

programmes 

for 

2014-20: 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         
 
 
 
 
                                                            
2.4.2 

Investment share in Research and Innovation (R&I)61 

The largest investments in research and innovation (R&I) in absolute terms are planned 
in  Eastern  and  Southern  Europe  (ERDF,  ESF),  notably  under  the  thematic  objective 
(TO1) research and innovation. On average, 10.6% of ESIF are committed to R&I. As a 
share of total investments, planned investments in R&I are higher in Northern Europe. 

Under  TO1  the  five  largest  planned  investment  categories  are  research  and  innovation 
processes  in  SMEs  (including  voucher  schemes,  process,  design,  service  and  social 
innovation)  EUR  6.7  billion;  Research  and  innovation  infrastructure  (public)  EUR  6 
billion;  Technology  transfer  and  university-enterprise  cooperation  primarily  benefiting 
SMEs EUR 4.4 billion; Research and innovation activities in public research centres and 
centres  of  competence  including  networking  EUR  4.2  billion  and  Research  and 
innovation processes in large enterprises EUR 2.5 billion. 

The  Member  States  with  the  largest  planned  investments  in  absolute  terms  are  Poland 
EUR  7.5  billion,  followed  by  Spain  4.7  billion,  Germany  3.8  billion,  Italy  3.5  billion, 
Czech  Republic  2.4  billion  and  Portugal  2.3  billion.  The  Member  States  with  highest 
share  of  investment  planned  for  TO1  are  the  Netherlands,  with  32.1%,  followed  by 
Denmark (23.2%), Luxembourg (20.8%), Germany (20.6%) and Austria (19.8%).  

Graph 7: Planned investments under TO1 

Source: ESIF-viewer, visualising data for ERDF, ESF, CF and YEI, http://RIS3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esif-viewer 

2.4.3  Thematic priorities of regions – Eye@RIS3 

In  RIS3  strategy  documents,  most  regions  and  Member  States  have  identified  different 
combinations  of  broadly  defined  priorities.    The  RIS3  definition  process  identified  a 
range  of  thematic  priority  areas  for  investments  –  e.g.  health,  climate,  energy  and 
industrial  modernisation  driven  by  key  enabling  technologies62,  transport,  mobility, 

61   Based on data from the ESIF viewer: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esif-viewer  
62   Study  (launched  by  DG  RTD.  D1)  Analysis  of  smart  specialisation  strategies  in  nanotechnologies, 
advanced  manufacturing  and  process  technologies,  http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/analysis-of-smart-

20 

 
 
                                                            
 
creative economy, bio-economy63 and much more. The identified areas have been found 
at  the  intersection  of  economic  sectors,  expected  to  develop  faster,  thanks  to  their 
novelty, diversity and innovation, as well as new marketing and organizational solutions. 
This  could nonetheless also involve revamping  traditional sectors  by mixing them with 
new economic areas or focusing on their particular elements from a new viewpoint based 
on a specific advantage.  

Examples of RIS3 priority-setting processes  

In  Poland,  the  RIS3  finding  process  resulted  in  20  national  and  81  regional  smart  specializations, 
encompassing  both  traditional  sectors  (such  as  tourism,  furniture  or  agriculture)  and  more  innovative 
technologies  and  industrial  processes  (such  as  multifunctional  materials,  including  nanoprocesses  and 
nanoproducts). 

In  Denmark,  some  sectors  appeared  in  several  regions'  identified  areas  of  strength  and  opportunities 
(health e.g.), whereas other sectors appeared more region specific (e.g. blue economy). This identification 
process  has  enabled  the  Danish  regions  to  adopt  a  more  systematic  approach  to  the  entrepreneurial 
discovery process. 

In the UK the smart specialization strategies depend on the unique circumstances of the different “Member 
States”  (England,  Scotland,  Northern  Ireland  and  Wales).  Innovation  policies  are  developed  at  national 
level  in  partnership  with  businesses  and  research  institutions  across  the  Member  State,  whereas  other 
elements of smart specialisation can only best be delivered at the local level, such as strengthening of local 
innovation  ‘ecosystem(s)’  and  building  local  capabilities,  supporting  local  supply  chains  to  invest  and 
collaborate,  catalysing  and  leveraging  the  differing  opportunities  of  social  innovation;  and  branding  and 
positioning places as credible centres of smart specialisation. 

Ireland's  smart  specialisation  strategy  provides  indicative  multi-annual  plans  for  budgeting  and 
prioritisation  of  investments  linked  to  R&D,  identifying  14  strategic  areas  where  public  investment  in 
research should be concentrated. These strategic areas encompass the priorities both at national level and at 
regional level. A “mapping” exercise of the existing strengths evidenced regional specializations such as 
Medical Technology concentration in the West of Ireland, or Marine Renewable Energy in the West and 
North West. 

Estonia  has  chosen  surface  coating  technologies  and  nanotechnologies  in  new  materials  as  one  of  the 
domains of the smart specialisation. For instance, a company, Skeleton Technologies, used an ERDF grant 
to develop a high-performing and competitive ultra-capacitor technology64. Combined with support under 
Horizon2020 and later financing by the European Investment Bank, the company became Europe's leading 
producer of ultra-capacitors. 

Graph 8: Ten most common categories of priorities 

250
200
150
100
50
0

Source: Eye@RIS3 database, http://RIS3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/map 

specialisation-strategies-in-nanotechnologies-advanced-manufacturing-and-process-technologies-
pbKI0115021/  

63   The European Bioeconomy Strategy, together with its Action Plan, is currently under review, with a 
view  to  being  will  be  updated  together  with  its  Action  Plan  in  the  light  of  the  Commission's 
announcement in the Circular Economy Package  

64   A capacitor is a device used to store an electric charge, consisting of one or more pairs of conductors 

separated by an insulator. 

21 

 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                 
The  Eye@RIS3  tool  of  the  Smart  Specialisation  Platform  provides  detailed  maps  of 
regions according to thematic priorities, as illustrated below for energy.  

Graph 9: Example Eye@RIS3 map of regions with energy related priority areas 

Source: Eye@RIS3 database, http://RIS3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/map 

2.4.4  Selection of operations and expenditure declared in ESI Funds  

The European Regional Development Fund is the most important source of support for 
smart specialisation strategies in most regions.  

By January 2017, the progress  of implementation  on the ground was picking up speed. 
The  end-January  indicator  of  project  selection  has  reached  26%  on  average  for  all  the 
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) projects. When examining the thematic 
objectives  (TO)  that  correspond  to  the  eligible  costs  of  projects  selected,  supports  for 
smart  specialisation  (TO1  –  EUR  16  billion)  and  for  SMEs  (TO3  –  almost  EUR  20 
billion) are the most advanced fields approaching 40% of ERDF allocation. 

Under TO1 – strengthening research and innovation: about one fifth of the EUR 16 
billion  eligible  costs  fall  under  the  category  of  research  and  innovation  processes  in 
SMEs  (cat.064).  Together  with  technology  transfer  (cat.  062),  activities  in  public 
research  centres  (cat.060),  public  infrastructure  (cat.058),  and  processes  in  large 
enterprises  (cat.002)  about  75%  of  the  overall  eligible  costs  are  covered.  The  eligible 
costs in selected projects are relatively evenly distributed across these four categories (in 
a range of EUR 1.9 billion to EUR 2.6 billion). 

Under  TO3  –  enhancing  support  for  SMEs:  generic  productive  investment  in  SMEs 
(cat. 001) makes up almost half of the EUR 20 billion eligible cost in selected projects. 
22 

 
 
 
 
Adding SME business development support (cat.064) and advanced support services  to 
SMEs (cat.066) results in coverage of 80% of the expenditure of selected projects. 

2.4.5  Evidence on implementation through analysis of calls for projects65 

An  ongoing  study  by  European  Commission  (JRC)  analysing  the  calls  for  projects 
launched under the ERDF Thematic Objective 1 “Strengthening research, technological 
development  and  innovation”  in  2014-2016  in  five  Member  States  (Poland,  Italy, 
Portugal, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia) reveals that the smart specialisation (RIS3) 
approach  is  being  translated  into  practice  and  is  playing  a  pivotal  role  in  the 
implementation  of  ERDF  innovation-linked  measures  within  national  and  regional 
Operational Programmes.66  In  most  of  the  examined  calls,  RIS3  alignment  is  a  binding 
eligibility condition for R&I funding.  

ERDF Operational Programs – Thematic Objective 1 (Research and Innovation): Number 
of RIS3-related calls (31 December 2016) 

Member 
State 

Italy 

Poland 

Portugal 

Hungary 

Lithuania 

Slovenia 

TOTAL 

Published calls 
(end-2016) 

RIS3-related calls (eligibility 
condition) 

Number 

Number 

% of total 
calls  

66 

109 

54 

11 

10 

7 

257 

61 

105 

54 

7 

10 

7 

244 

92 

96 

100 

64 

100 

100 

95 

Source: Adaptation from Gianelle, C., F. Guzzo, and K. Mieszkowski (2017), Smart Specialisation at work: Analysis of 
the calls launched under ERDF Operational Programmes, JRC Technical Report, forthcoming. 

Nearly  all  ERDF  resources  made  available  through  the  calls  support  project  proposals 
falling exclusively within RIS3 priority areas. 

ERDF - Thematic Objective 1 (Research and Innovation): Funding allocated through RIS3-
related calls (31 December 2016) 

ERDF resources  

Member 
State 

Italy 

Poland 

Portugal 

Hungary 

Total published 
calls (EUR) 

RIS3-related 
calls  (EUR) 

767,830,874 

741,203,316 

3,860,052,103 

3,846,348,571 

1,253,320,000 

1,253,320,000 

1,194,255,484 

1,073,610,323 

Lithuania 

244,536,487 

244,536,487 

Slovenia 

TOTAL 

75,232,627 

75,232,627 

7,395,227,575 

7,234,251,324 

% of 
RIS3 
related 
calls 
96.5 

99.6 

100 

89.9 

100 

100 

97.8 

Overall ERDF 
funding for TO1 
in each MS (2014-
2020) 

RIS3 
related 
calls: % of 
TO1 
resources   

3,512,735,843 

8,351,428,665 

2,328,812,052 

2,148,860,450 

678,878,835 

461,739,158 

17,482,455,003 

21.1 

46.1 

53.8 

50.0 

36.0 

16.3 

41.4 

65   Gianelle,  C.,  F.  Guzzo,  and  K.  Mieszkowski  (2017),  Smart  Specialisation  at  work:  Analysis  of  the 
calls launched under ERDF Operational Programmes, DG JRC Technical Report, forthcoming. 
Ibid 

66  

23 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
Source:  Gianelle,  C.,  F.  Guzzo,  and  K.  Mieszkowski  (2017),  Smart  Specialisation  at  work:  Analysis  of  the  calls 
launched under ERDF Operational Programmes, JRC Technical Report, forthcoming. 

The  study  also  shows  the  existence  of  "spill-overs"  of  smart  specialisation  into  other 
policy areas, in particular SMEs competitiveness, access and use of ICT, shift towards a 
low-carbon  economy,  and  education  and  training.  There  exist  calls  embracing  different 
policy  instruments  which  support  integrated  project  proposals  falling  within  RIS3 
priorities  areas.  The  study  shows  that  the  most  common  category  of  beneficiaries  is 
consortia of enterprises and research organisations. Together with three other categories - 
single  (large,  small  and  medium  sized)  enterprises  -  consortia  of  enterprises,  and 
consortia  of  SMEs,  they  are  generally  the  beneficiaries  of  calls  aiming  to  support  R&I 
projects. 

2.4.6  The establishment of the S3Platform 

One  of  the  main  achievements  of  the  smart  specialisation  approach  has  been  the 
establishment  of  a  community  of  practice  for  design  and  implementation  of  smart 
specialisation  strategies.  To  assist  Member  States  and  regions  in  the  process  of 
developing,  implementing  and  reviewing  their  smart  specialisation  strategies,  the 
Commission set up the Smart Specialisation Platform (S3 Platform) in 2011. Its objective 
has  been  to  provide  information,  methodologies,  expertise  and  advice  to  national  and 
regional authorities as well as to promote mutual learning and trans-national cooperation. 
It  has  around  200  members  in  total  including  18  EU  Member  States  and  two  non-EU 
countries, as well 170 EU and nine non-EU regions. 
The  S3  platform67  has  developed  a  number  of  tools68  to  encourage  and  support 
stakeholder  interaction  in  RIS3,  such  as  online  matchmaking  tools,  peer  review 
exchanges  and  learning  workshops,  giving  interested  parties  a  solid  basis  on  which  to 
interact with each other. It is clear, however, that an insufficient level of development of 
innovation  environment  is  hampering  the  participation  of  some  Member  States  and 
regions,  especially  from  the  EU-1369,  and  limiting  cooperation  with  more  developed 
regions from the “old” Member States. 

Smart  specialisation  cooperation  actively  involves  a  wide  variety  of  stakeholders  — 
national  and  regional  authorities,  universities,  research  institutions,  business  and  civil 
society  —  and  therefore  brings  significant  opportunities  to  exploit  synergies,  facilitate 
the  transfer  of  knowledge  and  capabilities  and  develop  new  ideas.  A  transnational 
perspective  enables  Member  States  and  regions  to  evaluate  their  competitive  position 
with  regard  to  others,  obtain  the  necessary  research  capacity  or  overcome  a  lack  of 
critical mass. 

67   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ 
68   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/s3-tools 
69   "External  dimensions  of  smart  specialisation:  Opportunities  and  challenges  for  trans-regional  and 
transnational collaboration in the EU-13" - Slavo Radosevic and Katerina Ciampi Stancova – DG JRC 
Working Paper (2015) -  
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/20182/114874/JRC96030_External_Dimensions_of_S3.
pdf/  

24 

 
 
                                                            
 
Graph 10: Registered Member States and regions in the RIS3 Platform 

Source: RIS3 Platform, available at http://RIS3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/RIS3-platform-registered-regions 

2.4.7 

Influence on national and regional systems 

There  is  a  range  of  evidence  which  shows  how  smart  specialisation  strategies  have 
influenced national and regional innovation systems.  

2.4.7.1 Governance and institutional changes  

New  practices  in  public  administrations  have  emerged  at  national,  regional  and  local 
level  with  regard  to  innovation  policy-making.  The  RIS3  approach  has  brought  about 
significant  structural  and  institutional  changes  in  regional  governance,  triggering  or 
strengthening  inter  alia,  interdepartmental  cooperation,  participative  and  inclusive 
governance, more transparent and efficient monitoring mechanism. 

Examples of how RIS3 has triggered structural change in some EU Member States: 

In the Czech Republic, the national authorities have given regions the opportunity to determine their own 
priorities  by  exploring  their R&I  strengths and  weaknesses, growth potential  and  engaging with regional 
stakeholders. This should lead to the better allocation of financial resources. Although regions still do not 
hold formal legal responsibilities in R&I, they have designed their RIS3 strategies and manage them under 
the ESIF-funded Smart Accelerator project, depending on the readiness of regions. 

In  Slovenia  Strategic  Research  and  Innovation  Partnerships  (SRIPs),  established  during  the  RIS3  design 
phase,  play  a  key  role  in  transforming  the  governance  structure.  SRIPs  are  clusters  that  bring  together 
companies, knowledge institutions, civil society organisations and notably, different government services. 
RIS3  initiated  an  unprecedented  pooling  of  public  and  especially  private  research,  technology, 
development and innovation capabilities in key priority areas. This is accompanied by comprehensive and 
relevant  competitiveness  dimensions  and 
well-coordinated  government  support  addressing  all 
simultaneously emphasising forward-looking and disruptive types of innovation through the integration of 
science, engineering, design and art. 

25 

 
 
 
 
In Sicily (Italy), innovators have pointed out that most ideas have often failed to get off the ground because 
they did not pass funding eligibility thresholds. The regional authorities recognised the need for a different 
governance model. A new cross-departmental structure now coordinates the analysis, planning, guidance, 
and monitoring of RIS3. This is complemented by permanent thematic groupings that include international 
partners.  

In  Lapland,  systemic  RIS3  thinking  has  emerged  (rather  than  a  new  governance  structure):  RIS3 
implementation is followed up horizontally throughout all the layers of the planning and decision-making 
process in regional development.  

In East Macedonia and Thrace (Greece), the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) required not only 
the  introduction  of  participatory  dialogue  into  research,  technology,  development  and  innovation 
policymaking,  but  also  renewed  efforts  to  build  trust  in  the  public  sector.  This  transfer  of  
‘entrepreneurial·  knowledge’  into  policy  intervention  required  that  stakeholders  who  took  part  in  the 
EDP were kept informed about policy outcome through: 

• 

•  EDP focus groups: a set of four sector-based events, aimed at generating innovative ideas through 
interaction  between  business,  the  public  sector  and  research  organisations  within  the  RIS 3 
priorities; 
Project Development Labs (PDL): a set of two events aimed at processing EDP ideas and moving 
them  towards  implementation,  identifying  funding  opportunities  and  action  plans  for  policy. 
During  the  second  PDL  in  particular,  policymakers  presented  to  ‘Triple  Helix’  actors  the  draft 
calls for proposals, which had been developed during the EDP focus groups. Stakeholders were 
able to comment on those and develop their own ideas further with the support of experts in R&D 
funds. 

With the RIS3 experience, policymakers in this region were given responsibilities for R&I policies. These 
new powers pushed the managing authority of the ERDF operational programme to develop, together with 
the Joint Research Centre (JRC), skills in participatory leadership to pursue EDP in different sectors. 

Through the EDP focus groups, the region set out in detail its priority areas and, building on this, analysed 
the  administrative  and  legal  aspects  necessary  to  write  effective  calls  for  proposals.  This  involved 
interactions with the national government, the European Commission and experts in the field. Furthermore, 
throughout this process, stakeholders themselves noted that a better awareness of relevant actors (through 
updated databases and appropriate avenues for interaction) was necessary for conducting a proper EDP70. 

In the public consultation 92% of respondents replied that they think they should be more 
involved  in  the  design  and/or  implementation  of  S3  challenging  existing  innovation 
governance  structures.  The  respondents  have  been  asked  also  which  other  organisation 
should be in their opinion more/better involved in the design or implementation of R&I 
support  in  their  country  /  region.    Most  respondents  see  a  need  to  involve  enterprises 
(55%  for  medium-sized  enterprises,  46%,  for  large  and  43%  for  small  and  micro-
enterprises)  more  in  the  implementation  or  research  and  innovation  support.  More 
involvement of SME intermediaries such as cluster organisations and Higher Education 
Institutions (43% each) is also seen as important.  

A  recent  survey  shows  that  the  EU’s  new  cohesion  policy  has  led  many  regions  and 
Member States to change their behaviour with regard to collaboration on R&I policy71. 
The main barriers to collaboration seem to be inter-related and include lack of resources, 
insufficient  political  commitment,  insufficient  engagement  of  regional stakeholders  and 
unclear objectives. One interpretation is that it is challenging to communicate clearly to 
stakeholders  and  politicians  the  outcomes  of  interventions,  with  the  result  that 
stakeholders are unwilling commit or mobilise resources. Innovation policy interventions 
quite often support activities that provide indirect and dynamic benefits that are not easily 
measured, divisible or attributable to individual actors or activities.  

70   Gdfgdf Boden et al. (2016) 
71   (Sörvik et al., 2016). 

26 

 
 
                                                            
2.4.7.2  The Entrepreneurial Discovery Process  

The Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) is an inclusive and interactive bottom-up 
process in which stakeholders from different environments — governance, firms, higher 
education institutions and civil society — gather on a regular basis to explore and select 
the domains of R&I in which regions are likely to excel, given their existing capabilities 
and  productive  assets.  The  EDP  pursues  the  integration  of  entrepreneurial  knowledge, 
fragmented  and  distributed  over  many  sites  and  organisations,  through  the  building  of 
connections and partnerships.  

Stakeholder  interaction  has  proved  conducive  to  opening  up  new  market  and 
technological  opportunities,  as  well  as  informing  governments’  policy  and  decision-
making  processes.  The  EDP  approach  facilitates  the  setting-up  of  public-private 
partnership and larger-scale projects. Thus, the smart specialisation concept has become 
an influential instrument for place-based innovation-driven growth. 

Examples of the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process in some EU Member States: 

A novel approach was introduced in Calabria (Italy) to encourage stakeholder engagement in the design 
and  implementation  phase  of  RIS3.  Along  with  the  establishment  of  thematic  workshops,  various  tools 
(online  consultations,  technology  foresights  and  global  value  chains  analysis,  etc.)  were  implemented  to 
promote  information  gathering  and  public  debate.  Eight  thematic  platforms  are  about  to  be  launched  to 
maintain  the  momentum  generated  by  the  RIS3.  They  should  promote  industry-science  cooperation, 
explore  market  opportunities,  help  select  and  monitor  innovation  areas,  support  regional  firms’  outward 
orientation and global engagement and shape decision-making processes in general. A newly established 
RIS3 steering committee is responsible for taking decisions on the strategy’s revision and the exploration 
of  new  innovation  areas.  To  ensure  main  stakeholders’  involvement,  this  committee  is  composed  of 
representatives from the quadruple helix.  

The emergence of a bottom-up approach to policymaking has led to a dramatic change in the approach to 
innovation  in  the  Pomorskie  Region  (Poland).  Various  tools  such  as  co-working  platforms  and  forums 
have been developed to engage stakeholders in a continuous and long-term exchange. The entire ecosystem 
is mobilised and academic establishments have started setting up partnerships with businesses. 

Almost  all  regional  policymakers  who  recently  took  part  in  a  survey  judged  the 
entrepreneurial  discovery  process  to  have  been  effective  in  identifying  investment 
priorities for regional development. There is a high level of satisfaction with the EDP and 
its  ability  to  engage  stakeholders,  increase  trust  among  stakeholders  and  towards  the 
public sector  and to inform policymaking. The way in  which the outcomes  of the EDP 
have been embedded in the policy process varies between regions, with some considering 
it as mandatory and some seeing it as optional. 

2.4.7.3  Monitoring  

Through smart specialisation, European regions and Member States have designed a set 
of result-oriented policy actions, whose capacity to meet the strategic objectives need to 
be monitored closely. A substantial effort has been made to extend monitoring activities 
in order to integrate a range of strategic functions with the goal of better informing the 
decision-making process and keeping stakeholders engaged72. 

72   Kleibrink, Gianelle and Doussineau (2016), “Monitoring Innovation and Territorial Development in 

Europe: Emergent Strategic Management”, European Planning Studies 24 (8): 1438–58. 

27 

 
 
                                                            
2.4.7.4  Economic transformation, new technological and market opportunities 

The  RIS3  logic  has  facilitated  a  reflection  on  the  economic  transformation  of  a  wide 
range  of  regions.  It  promotes  locally  driven  knowledge-based  growth  while  breaking 
down  silos  between  research  and  economic  development.73  In  addition,  a  continuous 
entrepreneurial  discovery  process  fosters  cross-sectoral  working  practices  and  the 
emergence of clusters as a practical instrument for encouraging stakeholder commitment 
and  collaboration.  A  shift  towards  a  demand-oriented  R&I  policy  approach  is  taking 
place, thus furthering private co-financing leverage. 

Examples of transformation processes in some EU Member States: 

RIS3 in Saxony (Germany) has triggered thinking about a much broader definition of innovation that goes 
beyond R&D, to encompass new emerging issues such as business models, design, market research, and 
social innovation. RIS3 has acted as catalyst for stakeholders' interaction to determine these new elements. 

Among  the  seven  specialisation  areas  selected  by  the  Languedoc-Roussillon  (France)  region,  the  one 
dedicated to water technologies provides an example of the impact of the structuring effect of RIS3 on the 
regional ecosystem in a specific field. Regional stakeholders with the support of the competiveness cluster 
and  the  regional  innovation  agency  aim  to  form  a  complementary  chain  in  Water  technologies  and  then 
reach a necessary critical mass. The role of the RIS3 framework  was crucial in contributing to the faster 
development  of  six  groups  of  integrated  solutions  in  water  technologies  to  better  access  to  international 
markets. 

In Emilia Romagna (Italy), RIS3 gave a new impetus to a more demand-oriented reshaping of regional 
research and innovation policies. The smart specialisation exercise is helping to address more effectively 
companies’ need for innovation through targeted support on research projects whose results can be used to 
create new products and processes that generate market value and enhance regional firms’ competitiveness. 

In  Catalonia (Spain),  a  clear  shift from  infrastructure/equipment  towards  innovation  led projects  can be 
seen.  RIS3CAT  communities  are  more  company focused. Innovation  Public  Procurement  schemes  foster 
collaborations  between  public  administrations,  R&I  agents  and,  in  the  case  of  public  procurement,  with 
companies. New instruments, such as CatLabs promote the participation of civil society in innovation. 

In Podkarpackie (Poland), the development of an aviation and aeronautics cluster is helping the regional 
economy  diversify  from  agri-food  into  high-tech  industries  and  creates  links  with  world  class  aviation 
businesses and research activities 

2.4.7.5  Behavioural changes in universities and research centres 
Smart  specialisation  gives  a  leading  role  to  universities74  as  actors  in  their  local 
innovation  ecosystems,  connecting  global  and  local  knowledge  domains,  and  arguably 
gives  them  far  more  prominence  than  it  has  been  the  case  under  previous  structural 
funding programmes. Universities have started to play an increasingly important role in 
the  design  and  implementation  of  regional  RIS3,  and  a  much  broader  role  than  merely 
generators  of  technological  research  and  other  ‘upstream’  activities.  There  remains 
though scope to better translate the presence of excellent universities and research centres 
into benefits for local businesses and the local economy. 

73  

‘Targeted innovation policy and practice intelligence (TIP2E): concepts and implications for theory, 
policy  and  practice’  -  Elias  G.  Carayannis,  Dirk  MeissnerAnastasia  Edelkina  -  The  Journal  of 
Technology Transfer (2015) - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10961-015-9433-8. 

74   "Universities  and  Smart  Specialisation"  -  Louise  Kempton,  John  Goddard,  John  Edwards,  Fatime 

Barbara Hegyi and Susana Elena-Pérez – JRC Policy Brief (2013)  
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/-/universities-and-smart-specialisation  

28 

 
 
 
                                                            
Examples of fostering behavioural changes in research institutions in some EU Member States: 

In Catalonia (Spain), the University of Girona set up the so called “Campus Sectorials” to foster actors’ 
entrepreneurial  readiness.  These  are  independent  entities  aimed  at  increasing  the  social  and  economic 
impact  of  the  university  by  acting  as  bridges  between  the  academy,  the  local  productive  sector,  the 
institutions  and  society.  The  “Campus  Sectorials”  act  as  business-led  knowledge  brokers  between 
researchers  and  the  local  private  sector,  launching  an  initial  embodiment  of  EDP  and  preparing 
participation in it. Indeed, they have been critically engaged throughout the whole cycle.75 

Smart  specialisation  has  helped  develop  a  more  focused  and  strategic  relationship  between  Värmland's 
regional authority (Sweden) and Karlstadt University. A renewed cooperation agreement has been put in 
place  for  opening  up  the  agenda  of  public  research  institutions.  It  aims  to  develop  excellence  in 
teaching and research based on interaction with local private and public sector institutions, while increasing 
the international profile of the university and the region. Tangible results have already been achieved: in 
the  first  phase  of Horizon  2020, Karlstadt  University registered  an  impressive  success  rate of 32%, with 
most  of  the  funded  projects  related  to  an  RIS3  priority,  a  result  the  university  explains  partly  by 
cooperation  with  regional  institutions  that  give  real  life  opportunities  for  scientific  enquiry.  Improving 
education in training is a more long term but just as important objective. The knowledge generated from 
the RIS3 areas is fed into degree curricula as well as its professional training courses. This is done through 
guest lectures, student placements, joint thesis supervision, as well as programme management, since each 
subject area is managed by council that includes an external representative. From the region's side, it hopes 
that  the  Smart  Specialisation  Academy  can  increase  the  long-term  attractiveness  of  Värmland,  both  for 
university  students  and  innovative  companies  that  seek  highly  skilled  employees  and  cutting-edge 
knowledge. 

The public consultation responses confirm that over the past 3 years thanks to the S3 the 
interactions  between  the  different  stakeholders  in  the  innovation  eco-systems 
(including universities and research centers) has improved significantly.  

In more detail, the implementers of innovation noted a significant increase in cooperation 
with  Higher  Education  Institutions  (HEI)  (76%),  followed  by  more  cooperation  with 
clusters or business associations (66%) and consultancy firms (64%).  

2.4.7.6  Cooperation 

Outward-looking  specialisation  (RIS3)  emphasises  the  identification  of  niches,  clusters 
of  related  industries,  cross-sectoral  innovation,  value  chain  linkages  and  the  solving  of 
societal challenges to find a region’s potential advantages in international markets, and to 
identify partners to help deliver new solutions and solve common challenges. This is the 
case not only for industry and academia, but also for regional policymakers who need to 
engage in interregional collaboration processes.76 

Building interregional strategic cooperation77 

The joint strategic process between Galicia (Spain) and Norte (Portugal) began in 2014 with the creation 
of  the  cross-border  Work  Group  (Technical  Secretariat)  made  up  of  representatives  from  the  Galician 
Innovation  Agency  and  the  Northern  Portuguese  Regional  Coordination  and  Development  Commission. 
They  set  up  the  governance  for  the  development  of  a  joint  strategy  and  carried  out  an  analysis  which 
identified the main areas for collaboration between the two entities. At the end of this strategic exercise, a 

75   Marinelli et al. (2016) 
76   Jens Sörvik & Inger Midtkandal & Chiara Marzocchi & Elvira Uyarra, 2016. "How Outward Looking 
is Smart Specialisation? Results from a survey on inter-regional collaboration in Smart Specialisation 
Strategies (RIS3)," DG JRC Working Papers. 
Elvira Uyarra & Jens Sörvik & Inger Midtkandal, 2014. "Inter-regional Collaboration in Research and 
Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). DG JRC, S3 Working Paper Series no 6/2014," 
JRC Working Papers JRC91963, Joint Research Centre -  
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/20182/114903/JRC91963_Interreg_Collaboration_RIS3
_final.pdf/89b7b310-8378-4e03-bcd9-2680061d037e. 

77   http://documentos.galiciainnovacion.es/RIS3T/RIS3T_en.pdf  

29 

 
                                                            
 
shared vision for the future was reached that includes the alignment of R&I goals and the proposal of joint 
priorities, actions for support, as well as an evaluation system with indicators to follow up implementation. 

According  to  the  public  consultation  results,  59  %  of  respondents  have  been  directly 
involved  or  observed  concrete,  strategic  interregional  cooperation  between  their  region 
and  other  regions  that  have  similar  or  related  S3  priorities.  Moreover,  a  large  majority 
(86  %)  of  the  respondents  confirmed  that  developing  interregional  cooperation  in  the 
framework of smart specialisation is important. 

2.4.7.7  International recognition of Smart Specialisation 

Smart  specialisation  is  also  now  attracting  the  attention  of  countries  outside  Europe. 
Smart specialisation has therefore been recognised by international organisations such as 
OECD,78  the  World  Bank79  and  the  United  Nations  Economic  Committee.80  At  the 
European  level,  the  Proposal  for  a  New  European  Consensus  on  Development  (Our 
World, our Dignity, our Future)81 and the External Investment Plan (EIP)82, the Digital 
for  Development  (D4D)  initiative,  together  with  the  support  of  further  public  sector's 
investments in R&I capacity in developing countries to unlock private sector investments 
will help to drive economic and social development internationally. 

The  regulation  outlining  pre-accession  funding  identifies  smart  specialisation  as  a 
thematic priority for helping enlargement Member States. In a recent Joint Staff working 
document 
the 
representatives  of  the  six  partner  member  states  agreed  to  having  at  least  one  partner 
government  commit  to  starting  a  full-fledged  RIS3  process  in  2017  and  formally 
adopting a new innovation strategy by 2020.  

the  European  Commission  and 

the  Eastern  Partnership83, 

for 

In  the  Western  Balkans,  Asia  and  Latin  America,  many  countries  have  expressed  their 
interest in learning from and exchanging knowledge with European counterparts that are 
successfully implementing smart specialisation strategies.84,85  

Examples of smart specialisation strategies put in place outside the EU: 

Australia,  Smart  Specialisation  Strategy  for  the  Hunter  Region:  aims  at  boosting  regional 
competitiveness  and  prioritising  the  region's  unique  strengths,  namely  in  food  and  agri-business,  mining 
activities,  medical  technologies,  oil,  gas  and  energy  resources,  defence,  advanced  manufacturing,  and 
creative  industries.  The  strategy  is  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  country  and  has  already  identified  the 
necessary actions to deliver innovation-driven growth. 

Brazil, Project Regional Innovation System in Pernambuco: EU-Brazil pilot project to design a RIS3 
for the State of Pernambuco in economic sectors relating to clothing. The project aims to build endogenous 
capacity to develop local talents in the production of clothing. 

Chile,  Strategic  Decentralisation  of  Innovation  in  Chile:  decentralisation  pilot  plans  are  being 
implemented in the regions of Biobio, Antofagasta and Los Rios with the objective of creating incentives 
for  business  innovation.  A  total  of  25  strategic  specialisation  programs  have  been  implemented  in  7 

78   http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/smart-specialisation.pdf 
79   https://www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/content/smart-specialization 
80   http://www.unece.org/ceci/search.html?q=smart+specialisation&op=Search 
81   COM(2016) 740 final, 22.11.2016. 
82   https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-

homepage_en/9886/EU%20External%20investment%20plan 

83   Kleibrink, Alexander, Philippe Larédo, and Stefan Philipp. 2017. Promoting Innovation in Transition 
Countries: A Trajectory for Smart Specialisation. JRC Science for Policy Report. Seville: European 
Commission, Joint Research Centre. 

84   "Smart  Specialisation 

in  Hunter  Region" 

-  Regional  Development,  Australia 

(2016) 

- 

http://rdahunter.org.au/initiatives/smart-specialisation 

85   "Innovation and Regional Specialisation in Latin America "  - Belén Barroeta, Javier  Gómez Prieto, 

Jonatan Paton, Manuel Palazuelos, Marcelino Cabrera Giráldez – JRC Policy Brief (2017) 

30 

 
                                                            
strategic sectors (mining, healthy food, sustainable tourism, sustainable construction, health technologies, 
fishing, and aquaculture and creative economy). 

Peru, Regional Agenda for Sustained Growth, Strategy of Smart Specialisation and Innovation in the 
Region  of  Piura:  aims  at  designing  the  specialisation  agenda  of  Piura  for  the  next  5  years  in  light  of 
innovation  policies  done  at  the  EU.  The  project  is  an  initiative  by  the  University  of  Piura  and  includes 
activities such as territorial diagnostic, strengths analysis, action plan and engagement of quadruple helix 
actors.  

Exchanges  with  Latin  America  are  an  example  of  the  positive  results  generated  by  the 
sharing of EU regional innovation programmes, mostly in the thematic areas of agri-food 
and  energy.  Argentina,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia,  Mexico,  and  Peru  have  established 
bilateral  agreements  with  the  EU  to  elaborate,  implement,  and  manage  urban  and 
regional  policies  for  innovation,  which  are  mostly  under  implementation  phases  at  the 
moment.  This  experience  will  be  capitalised  on  under  the  European  Union’s  new 
International Urban  Cooperation programme, 2016-2019, which, in  the Latin American 
sphere,  will  mobilise  policymakers  and  other  regional  actors  to  promote  innovation, 
working closely with EU regional counterparts in a multi-stakeholder context where the 
business  sector  is  expected  to  play  a  major  part,  thus  generating  new  opportunities  on 
both sides.86 

An example of international cooperation on smart specialisation: EU-Latin America cooperation 

The  experience  of  EU  regions  in  promoting  regional  innovation  through  Smart  Specialisation  Strategies 
(S3) is widely considered as an inspirational model for many countries and regions in Latin America. Many 
of the latter are seeking to diversify away from a longstanding dependence on primary products in order to 
create economies with greater focus on activities with more added value. Accordingly, countries such as 
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are seeking to create economies  less dependent on 
exporting  natural  resources  in  favour  of  a  knowledge-based  development  model  where  innovation  is  the 
key  driver  of  structural  change.  Given  the  European  experience  in  this  field,  cooperation  with  European 
Union institutions and the regions is a priority for many Latin American countries. A new framework  for 
this cooperation was created in 2015 in the EU-La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños 
(CELAC)  Summit  which  called  on  both  sides  "to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  the  regional  and  urban 
authorities to promote economic development and innovation and social inclusion and cohesion"87 . 

The  European Commission  has  played  a  key role  in  promoting  this cooperation  through  the Directorate-
General  for  Regional  and  Urban  Policy  and  the  Joint  Research  Centre  (notably  its  S3  Platform).  This 
ongoing  work  has  led  to  the  exchange  of  experiences  and  mutual  learning  between  Latin  American 
countries  (notably,  Brazil,  Chile  and  Peru)  and  European  regional  authorities  and  specialised  agencies. 
Themes  for  exchange  have  included  the  conception,  implementation  and  management  of  regional 
innovation strategies, including cluster development and the promotion of innovation SMEs, and involving 
cross-border and global value chains. 

2.4.8  Overall assessment of achievements 

Smart  specialisation  has  contributed  to  the  quality  of  investment  in  innovation  and 
entrepreneurship  under  cohesion  policy.  In  terms  of  key  Commission  priorities  such  as 
creating jobs, growth and investments, smart specialisation has been central in: 

  Mobilising investments of EUR 65,8 billion, where EUR 43,7 billion is from the 

EU budget and the rest are national contributions; 

  Supporting investments where the needs have been developed through a bottom-

up process of priority selection; 

  Creating  an  investment  friendly  environment  through  an  intensive  dialogue  of 

innovation stakeholders in the local context; 

86   http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/fpi/announcements/tenders/20160114_4_en.htm. 
87   http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/international-summit/2015/06/10-11/ 

31 

 
                                                            
  Addressing  priorities  of  the  Digital  Single  Market,  Energy  Union,  the  Circular 
Economy  and  the  single  market  through  technological  and  non-technological 
investments in innovation. 

One  of  the  main  achievements  of  RIS3  approach  has  been  the  establishment  of  a 
community  of  practice88  for  the  design  and  implementation  of  smart  specialisation 
strategies. This has been made possible on the basis of the RIS3 'ex ante conditionality'.  
The public survey results89 indicate that for 59% of the respondents the S3 process had an 
important  impact  on  the  quality  and  range  of  R&I  support  to  their  work  over  the  last 
three  years.  The  respondents  from  North-Western  EU  countries  perceived  a  bigger 
impact  (65%)  than  those  from  Mediterranean  countries  (56%).  The  majority  of 
respondents from  Central  and Eastern  European countries noted an impact of S3 in the 
past three years (but it needs to be noted that 21 of the 25 respondents come from Poland, 
i.e. this trend might not be generalised yet). 

The  effort  to  concentrate  resources  on  limited  number  of  priorities  has  changed  the 
perception  and  the  mind-set  of  key  innovation  actors,  including  businesses  and 
researchers, encouraging them to focus on their capacities and develop a tailored policy 
mix  that  is  relevant  for  specific  priorities  rather  than  repeating  support  for  generic 
capabilities  and  research  infrastructure.  It  has  involved  more  decentralisation  in  R&I 
policymaking and greater use of the public-private partnership approach. 

Regional  innovation  actors  have  become  better  connected  since  national  and  regional 
authorities were required to involve businesses, researchers and civil society to identify 
the unique competitive advantages of a region – as also shown by the results of the public 
consultation  (see  Section  2.1.4).  Innovation  actors  from  different  fields  were  often  not 
connected at cross-sections of technological, sectoral, or geographical strengths.90 

In  addition,  regions  have  become  more  outward-looking  in  their  approach  to  research, 
innovation and enterprise. They are now more able to cooperate with others since their 
complementary  strengths  are  now  clear.  This  cooperation  is  making  it  easier  to  build 
critical  mass  and  to  make  their  RIS3  investments  more  cost-effective.  This  has 
encouraged a wider EU-level perspective to be considered.91 

Regarding  impact,  there  are  now  also  more  robust  performance  frameworks  in  place, 
with  methodologies  developed  to  capture  the  results  and  impacts  of  innovation-led 
development. New approaches to improve the implementation of RIS3 concepts include 
constant  feedback  loops  of  diagnostic  monitoring  (problem  solving)  and  systematic 
learning-by-doing at project and policy level. 

2.4.8.1  Weaknesses and areas for improvement 

More efforts are still needed as regards the choice of priorities and keeping a structured 
interaction  between  researchers,  businesses  and  civil  society  going.  The  choice  and 
design of policy tools for implementation of the RIS3 - and the monitoring systems - still 

88   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ 
89   Summary of the public consultation on smart specialisation 
90   External  dimensions  of  smart  specialisations:  Opportunities  and  challenges  for  trans-regional  and 
transnational  cooperation  in  EU13  -  Slavo  Radosevic  and  Katerina  Ciampi  Stancova  –  DG  JRC 
Working paper (2015)  
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/-/external-dimesions-of-smart-specialisations-opportunities-and-
challenges-for-trans-regional-and-transnational-cooperation-in-eu13 

91   Smart Specialisation in Europe: Looking Beyond Regional Borders - Nicola Bellini - SYMPHONYA 

Emerging Issues in Management (2015) - 
http://symphonya.unimib.it/article/viewFile/2015.1.03bellini/10686 

32 

 
                                                            
 
 
need attention in many regions to make them fit for delivering on the RIS3 priorities and 
objectives. There are also challenges in less-developed regions to build institutional and 
legal  environment  conducive  to  innovation  and  join  international  networks  and  value 
chains. The need to reinforce trans-border cooperation is one of the clearest challenges of 
all  RIS3  work.  Effective  engagement  of  regions  in  interregional  collaboration  remains 
limited. 

In  addition,  global  challenges  and  new  political  priorities  such  as  COP21,  SDGs,  the 
circular  economy  or  bioeconomy  create  opportunities  for  new  research,  but  also  social 
and  business  model  innovation  and  new  value  chains.  These  can  build  on  local  natural 
capital, such as unexploited biomass resources, using side-streams or wastes in the agri-
food  sector  for  bio-based  products  or  producing  textiles  from  wood  cellulose.  These 
opportunities have been identified and recognised by many EU regions.92 

It  is  important  to  further  broaden  the  scope  of  actors  and  topics  involved  in  the 
interactions  at  the  local  level.  These  are  still  too  focused  on  purely  research  and 
technology oriented debates and led by universities and research organisations rather than 
local  business  firms.  Civil  society  organisations  are  underrepresented.  If  intermediaries 
such as clusters are absent, discussions should be encouraged directly between research 
actors and firms. There is a risk that, when the process is anchored at the political level or 
covers  a  large  territory,  it  will  tend  towards  political  negotiation  rather  than  towards 
open-ended processes of joint discovery.93 

The process which led to fulfil the conditionality made it evident that some preconditions 
are necessary to put smart specialisation in place:94  

  Leadership 

is  necessary 

implementation  of  smart 
to  embed  design  and 
specialisation  in  the  overall  policy  making  of  the  region.  This  requires  a  strong 
commitment  to  mobilise  innovation  actors  around  common  vision  of  regional 
economic  development.  The  vision  making  and  facilitation  of  interactions  should 
not  finish once  the strategy has  been adopted. Interactions with  a large variety of 
actors should be a process  that continues throughout  implementation  and leads to 
concrete action i.e. investments or an adjusted policy mix. 

  An enabling public administration at all government levels is crucial in order to 
harvest  the  knowledge  and  information  generated  through  the  process  of 
interactions  between  innovation  actors.  The  public  sector  needs  to  have  the  soft 
skills of collaboration, leadership, team working as well as the ability to translate 
received  feedback  into  an  effective  policy  mix  that  takes  into  account  the  local 
institutional, legal and political context. 

  Real  and  continuous  interactive  process  (so  called  Entrepreneurial  Discovery) 
between businesses, universities, research centres, wider groups representing civil 
society  that  allows  market  forces  and  the  private  sector  to  discover  and  produce 
information about new activities. 

  Modern  role  of  government  changing  towards  providing  the  right  conditions  to 
empower key actors to contribute to the strategic development of the region. Policy 

92   Committee of the Regions draft opinion: "Local and Regional dimension of Bioeconomy and the role 

of regions and cities"  
http://cor.europa.eu/en/activities/opinions/pages/opinion-
factsheet.aspx?OpinionNumber=CDR%2044/2017 

93   H.Kroll,  "Policy  Brief  on  Smart  Specialisation",  Fraunhofer  Institute  for  Systems  and  Innovation 

Research (2016) 

94   AMI-list expert reports during negotiation of operational programmes 2014-20 

33 

 
                                                            
 
and  investment  decisions  should  therefore  evolve  through  interactions  with  and 
between  entrepreneurs  (e.g.  business  people,  researchers  and  social  activists)  and 
local  citizens.  In  particular,  the  government  needs  to  be  much  more  engaged  in 
helping  design  and  develop  the  collaborative  (investment)  projects  that  represent 
the realisation of the entrepreneurial discovery process. 

  Openness  to  the  external  world  is  essential  in  the  global  economy.  Innovation 
networks  call  for  a  regional  and  innovation  policy  that  goes  beyond  regional  and 
national borders and which is not reluctant to be benchmarked and cooperate with 
others. 

  Transparent monitoring mechanisms - besides the legal obligations - should be 
understood as a management tool for the strategy. Good monitoring system helps 
public  authorities  to  properly  implement  and  react  promptly  to  inappropriate 
deviations. 

However, in order to maximise the role of smart specialisation to contribute to Europe's 
innovation potential in the context of globalisation, it is necessary to examine the broader 
policy framework in which it operates. This issue is addressed in the next section. 

3  KEY CHALLENGES AND NEXT STEPS: BOOSTING INNOVATION-LED GROWTH 

In  order  to  promote  growth  at  regional  level,  target  new  sources  of  investment  in 
innovative sectors and increase the competitiveness of European regions at a global level, 
the following four challenges need to be addressed: 

  Further reform of the regional and innovation systems; 

 

Increase cooperation in innovation investment across regions; 

  Leveraging research and innovation in less developed and industrial transition 

regions; 

  Harnessing synergies and complementarities between EU policies and 

instruments. 

3.1  Further reform of research and innovation systems 

3.1.1  The contribution of research and innovation to EU economy and productivity 

growth 

The  importance  of  productivity  as  a  key  driver  of  sustained  economic  growth  and 
consolidation  of  the  recovery  in  Europe  has  been  identified  by  several  studies,  such  as 
'The Future of Productivity’by the OECD.95 Labour productivity in the EU is around 15 
percent lower than in the United States and this gap has increased in recent years.  

95   http://www.oecd.org/economy/the-future-of-productivity.htm 

34 

 
                                                            
Graph 11: The real labour productivity gap (GDP per hour worked) between EU Member 
States and the United States, 2014 

This labour productivity gap stems in particular from under-performing labour-intensive 
services96  which  highlights  the  important  of  both  advanced  technologies  and  service 
innovation.97  While  many  factors  drive  multifactor  productivity,  for  most  advanced 
economies  innovation  and  innovation-related  investments  in  R&D,  ICT  and  skills 
development are crucial. These processes are affected by different factors that can range 
from  the  functioning  of  the  institutional  set-up,  the  abundance  and  quality  of  the 
infrastructure  network  or  the  functioning  of  the  markets  that  allow  for  an  efficient 
allocation of resources to more productive activities. 

3.1.2  The need for reform 

Structural  reforms  and  better  regulatory  and  institutional  frameworks  are  essential  to 
improve competitiveness and the sustainability of growth through increased productivity 
in  all  Member  States.  While  it  is  always  difficult  to  properly  measure  complex 
phenomena  such  as  innovation,  the  relationship  between  private  R&D  investment,  as  a 
crude proxy of innovation capacity, and multifactor productivity growth shows a positive 
relationship.98 

96   McKinsey  Global  Institute  (2010)  Beyond  austerity:  A  path  to  economic  growth  and  renewal  in 

Europe 

97   See 

also 

The 

Smart  Guide 

to 

Service 

Innovation 

(2012), 

available 

at 

http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/3955/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/pdf 

98   "Science, 

(2016) 
https://bookshop.europa.eu/en/science-research-and-innovation-performance-of-the-eu-pbKI0415512/  

performance 

Innovation 

Research 

EU" 

and 

the 

of 

35 

 
 
 
                                                            
Graph 12: Business R&D intensity, 1995 versus average annual growth in multifactor 
productivity, 1995-2007

RIS3 aims at a better and smarter targeting of public investment in R&I through a focus 
on  regional  strengths  and  opportunities.  An  innovation  strategy  should  focus  on  the 
barriers to innovation (regulation) and the needed support systems (investment in R&D, 
support  for technology transfer and STEM education)  that can spur more innovation in 
all three major sectors of an economy (for profit, non-profit and government).99 Efficient 
implementation  of  these  strategies,  however,  requires  well-functioning  regional  and 
national R&I systems. In this respect, the European Semester process clearly shows that 
further progress needs to be made. While the situation differs from one Member State to 
another,  three  cross-cutting  issues  require  particular  attention:  the  quality  of  public 
research,  public  private  cooperation  and  the  business  environment  for  R&I.  RIS3  is  an 
integral  element  of  the  Commission's  analysis  of  R&I  policies  in  the  context  of  the 
European Semester and as a consequence is reflected in the European Semester Member 
State Reports and in some of the Country Specific Recommendations. 

The  overwhelming  majority  of  public  research  in  Europe  is  financed  and  governed 
through 27 national systems (and regional ones below) which vary considerably in scale 
and  overall  quality.  According  to  the  ERA  Expert  Group100  there  are  systemic 
characteristics  and  consequences  arising  from  the  multi-centred  and  multi-level 
governance of research and innovation, such as:  

  Barriers to researcher mobility inhibiting career opportunities;  
  Difficulty in establishing cross-border academic-industrial partnerships; 
  Duplication  of  funding  between  national/regional  programmes  dispersing 

resources,  

  Lack of European perspective and transnational coherence in reforms undertaken 

at national level;  

  Diminished attractiveness as a location for business R&D investment.  

This  leads  to  inadequate  selection  mechanisms  and  incentives  to  improve  efficiency, 
effectiveness and learning capability.  Such system-failures are at the level of governance 

99   James  Manyika  et  al.,  “How  to  Compete  and  Grow:  A  Sector  Guide  to  Policy”  (McKinsey  & 
2010), 

Company, 
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/economic_studies/how_to_compete_and_grow. 

March 

100   ERA  Expert  Group,  Challenging  Europe’s  Research:  Rationales  for  the  European  Research  Area 
http://www.eirma.org/sites/www.eirma.org/files/doc/documents/EU/ERA-consult/eg7-

(ERA) 
rationales.pdf 

36 

 
 
                                                            
of  research,  implying  a  lack  of  coordination  and/or  cooperation  among  innovation 
support institutions.101 

The Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility (PSF) further supports Member States in the 
design, implementation and evaluation of structural R&I policy reforms. Issues linked to 
the implementation of RIS3 have been explicitly addressed in the context of several PSF 
projects  such  as  the  Peer  Reviews  of  Hungary  and  Bulgaria  and  they  will  be  further 
examined  by  the  PSF  Mutual  Learning  Exercise  (MLE)  on  "National  practices  in 
Widening Participation and Strengthening Synergies" which will be launched in autumn 
2017.    The MLE  will include  exchanges  of  national  practice  at  the  operational  level  in 
relation to how to best support national participation in EU Framework programmes and 
use ESIF and exploit synergies at the national level to build up a knowledge economy. 
The  Regional  Innovation  Monitor  project102,  launched  in  2010,  monitors  Research  & 
Innovation  policy  in  EU  regions  with  special  focus  on  industrial  aspects.  An  online 
repository was regularly updated to provide an easy access and comparative overview of 
relevant  regional  support  measures  and  strategies,  policy  documents  and  organisations. 
Standardised baseline regional profiles give user a quick overview of the socio-economic 
situation, research and innovation performance, innovation governance, policy trends and 
advanced manufacturing-related activities. 
The tools of the European Observatory103 for Clusters and Industrial Change – which is 
continuing  the  work  of  the  previous  European  Cluster  Observatory  –  can  further  help 
regions  and  Member  States  in  setting  evidence-based  priorities.  For  instance,  the 
Observatory  provides  an  overview  of  regional  strength  for  specialisation  areas  by 
providing  a  sectoral  and  cross-sectoral  cluster  mapping  through  its  cluster  mapping 
tool104  and  European  Cluster  Panorama,  which  reveal  concentrations  of  economic 
activities for 51 traditional sectoral cluster categories and for 10 emerging industries that 
represent cross-sectoral cluster categories.  

The Observatory's Regional Ecosystem Scoreboard105 captures the quality of conditions in the regional 
ecosystem that can foster or hinder innovation and entrepreneurship through 60 indicators and composite 
indicators in six dimensions (namely entrepreneurial conditions, knowledge basis and skills, collaboration 
and internationalisation, access to finance, demand conditions and quality of governance). Its policy action 
dashboard identifies specific areas that might be most promising to address by policy action as a result of a 
regional bottleneck analysis. The six model demonstrator regions (namely Centre region in Portugal, Nord-
Pas-de-Calais in France, Hamburg in Germany, Stockholm Digital Health Cluster in Sweden, West Region 
in Romania) that received advisory support services from the Observatory can also serve as showcases of 
modern cluster policy to inspire the RIS3 process of others. 

3.1.3  Higher education and VET in smart specialisation 

Support  to  reforms  can  be  increased  through  more  emphasis  on  skills  and  education  in 
RIS3  processes.  This  is  the  second  most  important  element  among  respondents 
highlighted by stakeholders in the consultation. Education is a high priority, in particular 
for less developed regions. 

101   ERA Expert Group, ibidem:  
102   https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-monitor/ 
103   The  European  Cluster  Observatory  will  be  renamed  the  European  Observatory  for  Clusters  and 
Industrial Change in the second half of 2017. http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cluster/observatory/ 

104   http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cluster/observatory/cluster-mapping-services/mapping-tool_en 
105   http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cluster/observatory/regional-ecosystem-scoreboard_en 

37 

 
                                                            
However,  a  recent  Fraunhofer  survey106  underlines  that  universities  are  perceived  as 
focusing on their traditional remit of knowledge and talent providers as well as research 
organisers.  Their role as entrepreneurial drivers of collaboration or platforms connecting 
the region to external knowledge sources is rather limited or, at least, rare except in the 
Nordic  Member  States  and  to  a  lesser  extent,  parts  of  the  UK  and  Eastern  Europe. 
Furthermore,  the  survey  shows  that  universities'  role  as  entrepreneurial  drivers  of 
collaborations  is  stronger  where  institutional  settings  are  inclusive.  The  more  the 
processes  of  consultation  are  anchored  in  the  political  hierarchy,  the  larger  the  average 
size  of  the  territory  they  cover,  the  more  dominant  role  they  hold.  It  appears  that  the 
potential  role  of  universities  to  build  innovation  capabilities  in  Southern,  Central  and 
South-Eastern Member States is weaker. 

Graph 13: Perceived role of universities in EDP: 

Source:  Fraunhofer Survey, DG REGIO. 

Traditionally innovation has been seen as a result of R&D activities carried out by highly 
qualified  staff  and  thus  a  domain  of  higher  education  rather  than  vocational  education 
and training (VET). However,  there are at least three  reasons why high  quality VET is 
relevant to supporting innovation:  

  Technological and process innovations can be absorbed by businesses provided 
that employees at all levels of the production chain have the required skills;  

  Given that the majority of European companies (including small enterprises) are 
involved in global value chains, constant innovation and efficiency are a must to 
ensure competitiveness in  a global context.  That  has  implications  for skills and 
work organisation practices; and  

 

Innovation cannot be limited to high tech industries – it also takes place in low-
tech industries which account for a large share of employment in Europe.  

Investment in training is also an investment in innovation, since many technical changes 
results  from  incremental  innovations  made  by  skilled  workers  and  engineers  on  the 
factory floor.107 However, the potential of VET to support or even drive competitiveness, 
innovation  and  growth  policies  has  largely  been  neglected  in  education  and  training 
policies  in  many  countries,  in  particular  when  compared  with  the  role  attributed  to  the 
higher education sector. Countries like Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands 

106   "Policy Brief on Smart Specialisation"- Henning Kroll (2016) Fraunhofer 
107   Van Ark, B.; O’Mahony, M. and Timmer, M. (2008). The Productivity Gap between Europe and the 
United  States:  Trends  and  Causes.    Journal  of  Economic  Perspectives—Volume  22,  Number  1—
Winter 2008—Pages 25–44. Retrieved at: 
http://www.indexmeasures.ca/dc2008/papers/vanark_productivity.pdf 

38 

 
 
 
                                                            
 
exemplify  the  importance  of  combined  strategies  where  VET  and  higher  education  are 
seen  as  complementary  and  where  one  cannot  be  developed  without  the  support  of  the 
other.  Policy  makers  need  to  integrate  the  VET  offer  into  comprehensive  skills  and 
knowledge-based  economic  development  strategies,  particularly  at  regional  and  local 
level. 108 This is related mainly to strategies to attract investments, to clusters, innovation, 
smart specialisation strategies and sustainable growth strategies.109 

As  defined  in  the  ex-ante  conditionality  10.4  on  vocational  education  and  training110,  countries  should 
implement measures to foster excellence in VET which include, among others: 

 

Incorporating  VET  in  economic  strategies  which  connect  skills  supply  and  demand,  based  on 
systematic skills monitoring and anticipation; 

  Building up VET providers' institutional autonomy and capacity to develop a strategic approach linked 

to local and regional economy and react to skills challenges; 

  Promoting  innovative  forms  of  cooperation  between  VET  providers  and  companies,  authorities, 
technology  centres  and  educational  institutions,  ranging  from  local  partnerships  to  international 
networks; and 

  Developing VET qualifications at higher than upper secondary level to respond to skills shortages. 

Transversal competences like creativity, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship are vital 
for innovation to reach the market. Entrepreneurship skills and attitudes should therefore 
be fostered in students and researchers to develop their proactivity, flexibility, autonomy, 
the  capacity  to  manage  projects  and  achieve  results.  Furthermore,  entrepreneurship 
programmes  provide  an  excellent  opportunity  to  connect  the  education  systems  to  the 
local economy and gives incentives for students to remain in a region. Structural Funds 
(in  particular  the  ESF  and  the  ERDF)  have  an  important  role  to  play  in  supporting 
concrete projects aiming to enhance the entrepreneurial mind-sets, skills and attitudes.111 
European initiatives such as the "Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills"112 and the 
Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition included in the New Skills Agenda for Europe113, help 
in responding to the lack of synergies between quadruple helix actors and in developing 
concrete  actions  to  satisfy  short  and  medium-term  skills  needs  to  support  innovation 
strategy within Member States. 

Furthermore,  smart  specialisation  cannot  be  isolated  from  social  innovation.  Promoting 
social  innovation  within  European  societies  and,  more  specifically,  in  social  policies, 
entails,  the  combination  of  skills,  business  cultures  and  public  services  to  offer 
innovative responses (instead of focussing only on business products).114 

108   CEDEFOP  (2012a),  Sectoral  perspectives  on  the  benefits  of  vocational  education  and  training. 

Retrieved at: http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/publications/19891.aspx  

109   SWD(2012)  375  final:  Commission  staff  working  document  "Vocational  education  and  training  for 

better skills, growth and jobs" 

110   Guidance  on  Ex  ante  Conditionalities  for  the  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/informat/2014/eac_guidance_esif_part2_en.pdf  
(2012).  Building 

111   European  Commission/Directorate-General 

for  Enterprise  and 

Industry. 

Entrepreneurial  Mindsets and Skills in the EU. GuideBook Seris. OPEU, Luxembourg 

112   Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills (on Europa website) and brochure (January 2017) Digital 

Skills and Jobs Coalition (on Europa website) 

113   Communication (2016) 381 "New Skills Agenda for Europe - Working together to strengthen human 
capital,  employability  and  competitiveness  and  Staff  Working  Document  (2016)  195  "Analytical 
underpinning for a New Skills Agenda for Europe" 

114   European Commission/DG REGIO (2013) Guide to Social Innovation. OPEU, Luxembourg.  

39 

 
                                                            
3.2 

Increasing cooperation in innovation investment across regions 

3.2.1  Rationale for transnational, interregional, cross-border cooperation 

Regions  play  an  important  role  in  creating  the  conditions  to  attract  private  sector 
investment  in  innovation  and  for  businesses  to  seize  opportunities  in  new,  often  global 
value  chains.  Interregional  and  macro-regional  cooperation  can  help  to  exploit 
complementarities  to  build  EU-wide  value-chains  and  encourage  the  alignment  of 
investment between the private and public sector.  

There  is  a  large  untapped  potential  for  more  joint  interregional  actions  with  the 
corresponding  national  and  regional  policies  as  also  illustrated  by  the  Vanguard 
Initiative115    and  the  strong  support  expressed  in  the  recent  public  consultation.  For 
instance, the BLUEMED initiative intends to promote joint actions of relevant research 
and  innovation  priorities  within  the  maritime  sector  in  order  to  maximise  the  leverage 
effects of the research investments from both private and public sectors. 

"Scale, scope and spill-overs are important determinant of R&D and other innovation-related activities and 
the  ability  to  realize  economies  of  scale  and  scope  and  to  capture  spill-overs  is  strongly  conditional  to 
size."… "Gains from specialisation are central in R&D; even the ability to capture knowledge spill-overs 
generated  by  others  depends  as  well  on  the  existence  of  a  sufficiently  large  nearby  R&D  sector"  (D. 
Foray)116. 

Internationalisation can also help to solve mismatches between the functional system for 
innovation  and  regional/national  innovation  systems,  when  the  former  cross  borders.117 
Promotion and facilitation of innovation across borders, connecting smart specialisation 
growth  investments  therefore  has  significant  potential.  Smart  Specialisation  based  on 
transnational  cooperation  begins  within  a  region/country  by  exploiting  place-based 
expertise  and  industrial  skills  within  the  regional  innovation  eco-system.  Regional 
innovation eco-systems could be further strengthened through transnational learning and 
training and collaboration.118 

3.2.2  Addressing fragmentation and creating innovation investments in value chains 

Potential spill-overs and complementarities are underexploited because of the fragmented 
nature  of  national  and  regional  innovation  systems  across  the  EU.  At  present,  it  is 
considered  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  knowledge  spill-overs  beyond  200  kilometres 
from  the  agglomeration  of  origin119.  The  active  engagement  of  Member  States  and 
regions is therefore essential in order to overcome this fragmentation. 

There  are  various  instruments  at  EU  level  under  the  Horizon2020  and  COSME  programmes  which 
promote  cooperation,  such  as  Joint  Technology  Initiatives,    contractual  Public  Private  Partnerships 
(cPPPs),  European  Institute  of  Innovation  &  Technology  (EIT)  through  its  Knowledge  and  Innovation 

115   http://www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu/sites/default/files/docs/general/milan_declaration.pdf 
116   D. Foray, Smart specialisation and the New Industrial Policy agenda, Policy Brief N° 8, Innovation 

for Growth, 2011 -   https://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/expert-groups/i4g-
reports/i4g_policy_brief_8_-_smart_specialisation.pdf 

117   OECD,  Cross-border  science,  technology  and  innovation  governance  arrangements,  in  Science, 

Technology and Innovation Outlook 2016 

118   Mariussen Å; Rakhmatullin R; Stanionyte L. Smart Specialisation: Creating Growth through Trans-
national  cooperation  and  Value  Chains.  Thematic  Work  on  the  Understanding  of  Transnational 
cooperation and Value Chains in the context of Smart Specialisation. EUR 28049 EN. Luxembourg 
(Luxembourg): POEU; doi:10.2791/658931 

119   "Why  Regional  Development  matters  for  Europe's  Economic  Future",  LSE,  European  Commission 

2017. 

40 

 
                                                            
Communities120  and  their  co-location  (regional)  centres  across  Europe,  European  Strategic  Cluster 
Partnerships121, cluster projects for new industrial value chains122 and cluster excellence123 as well as the 
Enterprise Europe Network, the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service and other initiatives such 
as Joint Programming, European Innovation Partnerships, INTERREG, as well as the co-location centres 
established in different regions as part of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology. However, for 
pan-European projects there is a need for stronger links between mechanisms to combine funding sources 
in a predictable manner. 

Fragmentation burdens the knowledge flows and the strategic alignment in the European 
research  and  innovation  space.    Smart  specialisation  can  help  reduce  fragmentation 
through  the  organisation  of  open  innovation  process  –  the  entrepreneurial  discovery 
process  -  across  borders,  to  promote  cooperation  to  exploit  knowledge  spillovers  and 
capitalise  on  complementarities.  Smart  specialisation  provides  a  basis  to  develop  co-
investments  in  value  chains  in  complementary  assets  and  increasing  technology  spill-
overs.124 

Regions are encouraged to cooperate with the 3.7 billion EUR Biobased Industry Joint Undertaking (BBI 
JU)125  and  the  Biobased  Industry  Consortium  (BIC)  to  create  synergies  and  exchange  best  practices  to 
promote investments in Bioeconomy. For example, a Letter of Intent126 has been signed between the BBI 
JU and 8 Polish regions aiming at more cooperation and awareness raising in the regions in synergy with 
their  Regional  Operational  programmes  and  Smart  Specialisation  Strategies.  The  Central  and  Eastern 
European Bioregions Forum will carry out concrete initiatives and projects aiming at progressing with the 
sustainable bioeconomy development and increasing the participation of Central Europe in H2020 and BBI 
JU. More regions are encouraged to cooperate at all levels.127 

The  Strategic  Energy  Technology  Plan  in  the  area  of  low  carbon  technologies  has  created  a  European 
platform  aiming  to  promote  coordination,  creation  of  synergies  and  the  scaling-up  of  research  and 
innovation  activities  at  the  national  level.  The  objectives  that  have  been  set  for  several  low  carbon 
technologies to achieve cost-reduction and improve of performance targets128 for the next 10-15 years can 
be inspirational for regions that want to adopt a similar or more ambitious level of commitment through 
enhanced cooperation. It can also offer its experience regarding the financial tools that could be applicable 
to  transnational  cooperation  schemes,  but  also  on  ''opening  up''  potential  restrictions  for  realising  such 
international partnerships. 

Smart Specialisation encourages a bottom-up coordination of innovation investments by 
developing  new  mechanisms  for  strategic  alignment  and  connecting  investment 
decisions,  and  is  mobilising  resources  for  innovation  all  over  Europe  for  common 

120   There  are  currently  six  EIT  Knowledge  and  Innovation  Communities  (KICs)  in  the  following 
thematic areas: climate change adaptation and mitigation (EIT Climate-KIC), sustainable energy (EIT 
InnoEnergy), digitalisation (EIT Digital), healthy living and active ageing (EIT Health), raw materials 
(EIT  RawMaterials)  and  food  for  future  (EIT  Food).  Moreover,  the  EIT  plans  to  launchtwo  more 
innovation  communities  in  2018  in  the  thematic  areas  of  added  value  manufacturing  (EIT 
Manufacturing)  and  urban  mobility  (EIT  UrbanMobility)  https://eit.europa.eu/collaborate/2018-call-
for-kics 

121   www.clustercollaboration.eu/eu-cluster-partnerships 
122   https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/innosup-01-

www.clustercollaboration.eu/eu-initiatives/emerging-industries-and-

2016-2017.html 
interregional-cooperation 

and 

123   www.clustercollaboration.eu/eu-initiative/cluster-excellence-calls   
124   "Research and Development, Spillovers, Innovation Systems, and the Genesis of Regional Growth in 

Europe" - A Rodríguez-Pose, R Crescenzi (2010) - 
http://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343400701654186 

125   The  BBI  JU  is  leading  the  way  in  bio-waste,  exploring  new  processing  techniques  that  produce 
chemicals  for  bio-plastics  or  recover  high  value  nutrients  from  urban  bio-waste  -  http://www.bbi-
europe.eu/ 

126   Signed at the European Bioeconomy Congress in Lodz, Poland (6 October 2016) 
127   http://biconsortium.eu/sites/biconsortium.eu/files/publications/Lodz_Press_Release_20161006.pdf   
128   https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/set-plan_progress_2016.pdf  

41 

 
                                                            
 
challenges and the creation of common futures.129  Strengthening interregional linkages 
between  regional  ecosystems  along  smart  specialisation  priority  areas  is  particularly 
important for less developed regions and Member States in Central and Eastern Europe, 
which  have  been  highly  dependent  on  foreign  direct  investment  to  drive  productivity 
growth.  Moreover,  there  is  a  need  to  increase  the  exposure  of  regional  actors  to 
international innovation networks to encourage knowledge diffusion. 

Cooperation on smart specialisation areas in Central Europe 

The Smart Specialisation Cooperation in Central Europe initiative, launched by DG REGIO in mid-2016, 
contributes to a long-term dialogue, enhanced cooperation and exchange of knowledge between actors of 
the knowledge triangle in Central Europe. The overall targets of the initiative are: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

to stimulate cooperation in RIS3 implementation,  

to coordinate RIS3s over borders,  

to build resilience in the CE region based on collaboration and  

to overcome the inward-looking approach.  

The long-term objective is to accelerate the cohesion of Central Europe and link the macro region to the 
EU-wide innovation networks. The initiative is based on close cooperation with other European actors, like 
INTERREG  CE  and  the  EIT.  Based  on  a  comparative  analysis  of  the  national  and  regional  smart 
specialisation  strategies  in  CE  countries  that  identified  the  common  priorities,  a  networking  event  was 
organised in Zagreb in 2016 to agree on the areas with the highest potential for cooperation in the field of 
Smart Specialisation. So far 3 working parties were initiated:  Slovenia leads the follow-up in Agro-food 
and Smart cities and Hungary leads in Industry 4.0. 

As next steps, targeted thematic workshops are organised in the macro region in order to allow all players 
to collectively activate partnerships and encourage partner regions to focus on jointly-funded pilots actions 
leading to the elaboration of a pipeline of bankable investment projects and cooperation agreements. 

Regional  innovation  systems  can  create  innovation  potential  but  lack  often  the  critical 
scale  to  impact  the  emergence  of  new  value  chains.  New  European  value  chains  can 
emerge  from  better  connecting  investments  across  specialised  clusters  that  belong  to 
these regional and national innovation systems.  

The  innovation  action  for  "cluster  facilitated  projects  for  new  industrial  value  chains"  (INNOSUP-
1)130  under  Horizon  2020  is  supporting  cross-sectoral  and  cross-regional  cooperation  and  innovation 
projects of SMEs through clusters with annual calls of an estimated total budget of around 130 million until 
2020.  This  measure,  which  aims  at  triggering  value  chain  innovation  and  fostering  the  development  of 
emerging industries in Europe through a demonstrator approach, has two particular features:  
  First,  75%  of  the  budget  of  the  supported  projects  must  be  reserved  to  support  innovation  in  SMEs 

directly, e.g. through vouchers schemes.  

  Second, applicants are required to outline in a 10-page concept note (for the first of two stages of the 
application  process)  how  they  intend  to  contribute  to  the  implementation  of  smart  specialisation 
strategies and complement support from the European Structural Investment Funds and other funds – 
thus demanding the creation of synergies in practice.  

So  far,  8  such  cluster  projects  each  with  a  budget  of  around  EUR  4.5  million)  have  been  launched  that 
gather over 90 partners and cut across 25 industrial themes and sectors.131 The first six INNO-SUP-1-2015 

129   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/transnational-cooperation 
130   https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/innosup-01-

www.clustercollaboration.eu/eu-initiatives/emerging-industries-and-

2016-2017.html 
interregional-cooperation 

and 

131   The focus areas of the first six INNOSUP-1-2015 and two INNOSUP-1-2016 cluster projects cover 
technologies,  blue  growth, 

advanced/process 

aerospace, 

ICT,  health, 
mobility/automotive and creative industries. 

agri-food,  bio, 

42 

 
                                                            
projects that started their activities in 2016 reported after their first 9 months to support already 802 SMEs 
in their innovation activities. 

3.2.3  RIS3 in European Territorial Cooperation  

Smart specialisation can help regions to develop links and cooperation beyond regional 
and  national  borders  to  tackle  common  challenges.  Such  cooperation  across  borders  is 
currently  facilitated  via  the  European  Territorial  Cooperation  (ETC)  programmes  and 
through the four existing macro-regional strategies, which created partnerships between 
innovation actors around various themes: "Smart specialisation strategies have been used 
to  drive  a  more  effective  innovation  policy  and  push  interregional  cooperation  in  new 
value chains across borders."132 

Territorial  cooperation  in  cohesion  policy  is  shaped  mostly  through  three  strands  of 
programmes for cooperation:  cross-border (Interreg A), transnational (in 15 programme 
zones: Interreg B) and interregional (Interreg Europe). The impact of Interreg projects on 
the innovation system can be significant because these are often explorative, beyond the 
traditional  areas  in  the  main  programmes.  A  good  example  of  the  strategic  impact  of 
Interreg  is  "Bio-based  Europe"  which  has  developed  now  as  an  important  technology 
centre  for  industrial  biotech  in  Flanders  and  beyond.  It  was  started  with  an  Interreg  A 
cooperation project between Flanders and Netherlands, alongside the Strategic Research 
Centre for Biotech in Flanders that is focussed on life sciences.  

Interreg  Europe  has  a  capacity  to  accelerate  policy  learning  regarding  smart  specialisation  design  and 
implementation via interregional policy learning. The present programme foresees four thematic pillars to 
support  policy  learning  on  implementation  of  ESIF  under  research  and  innovation,  ICT,  low  carbon 
economy and SMEs.  The first two calls resulted in 40 projects with 21 projects focussing on RIS3 (e.g. 
governance  and  clusters).  There  is  a  need  to  explore  synergies  among  them  and  with  the  Thematic 
Platforms. The Policy Learning Platform of Interreg Europe will play a role in this. Interreg Europe is the 
only  programme  with  EU-wide  coverage.  There  is  scope  for  developing  synergies  with  Thematic  Smart 
Specialisation Platforms, for example to support the networking of the regional authorities, but the budget 
is  limited  (and  no  more  calls  for  the  programme  will  be  launched  after  2017).  The  current  rationale  of 
Interreg Europe is focussed on policy learning to improve the ESIF Operational Programmes. So there is 
no  direct  support  to  co-investment,  and  business  actors  can  only  be  involved  indirectly  (e.g.  via 
intermediaries such as clusters).  

3.2.4  Macro-regional strategies 

A  ‘macro-regional  strategy’  is  an  integrated  framework  endorsed  by  the  European 
Council  to  address  common  challenges  faced  by  several  Member  States  and  third 
Member  States  located  in  the  same  geographical  area,  which  thereby  can  benefit  from 
strengthened  cooperation  contributing  to  the  achievement  of  economic,  social  and 
territorial cohesion. So far the EU adopted four macro-regional strategies across Europe: 
the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the 
EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region. 
These strategies rely on a coordinated approach and synergy effects through: optimal use 
of existing financial sources, better implementation of existing legislation, and better use 
of existing institutions. No extra money is involved. 

132   Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and 
Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  on  the  implementation  of  EU  macro-regional 
strategies , Brussels, 16.12.2016  

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/cooperate/macro_region_strategy/pdf/report_implem_

macro_region_strategy_en.pdf 

43 

 
                                                            
 
The example of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 

The concept of smart specialisation is well embedded in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 
(EUSBSR), in particular under the policy area 'Innovation' where smart specialisation strategies are 
one of the strategic policy instruments to foster cooperation beyond borders in the field of 
innovation. Macro-regional collaborations are good instruments to mobilise competences and align 
RIS3, as well as to create strategic platforms for developing joint RIS3 projects tackling common 
challenges. The BSR Stars133 is a transnational programme and policy collaboration among 10 
Member States (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Island, Poland, 
Sweden) that aims at strengthening competitiveness and economic growth in the Baltic Sea Region 
(BSR). This is to be achieved by fostering transnational linkages between specialised research and 
innovation nodes, clusters and SME networks leading to strategic innovation alliances to tackle 
common ‘grand challenges', such as health, energy, sustainable transports and digital business and 
services. One of the recent initiatives in the flagship — BSR Stars RIS3 is the INTERREG Baltic Sea 
Region project134 which fosters a transnational approach towards RIS3 implementation. Partners 
(Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden) will develop integrated innovation support 
infrastructures, such as test and demonstration facilities and new innovation management tools to 
leverage complementary competences stemming from their RIS3. The project focuses on the bio and 
circular economy as a cross-sectoral priority field of RIS3 in the BSR. 

Another example is the  Danube Innovation Partnership gathering stakeholders in the 
innovation  value  chain  of  the  Danube  region  into  a  partnership  that  will  design  and 
implement actions to accelerate innovation and technology transfer.135 

The  feedback  from  potential  applicants  and  other  stakeholders  shows  that  financing  by 
the  transnational  cooperation  programmes  is  in  their  view  the  most  efficient  way  of 
ensuring  that  the  implementation  of  smart  specialisation  strategies  achieves  the  critical 
mass in the specific topics like e.g. blue growth or clean energy. It fosters going beyond 
the  regional  and  national  context  of  the  strategies.  Other  financing  means  are  not 
particularly  designed  to  support  this  type  of  cooperation  and  pose  many  obstacles  for 
working towards common goals.   
Other important territorial strategies are the Sea-Basin strategies136. Smart specialisation 
helps to align the efforts for cooperation between sea-basin regions in Blue Growth areas. 
For example, the macro-regional marine  research initiatives in the Atlantic (Atlantic 
Ocean  Research  Alliance137),  Mediterranean  (BLUEMED138)  and  Baltic  (BONUS139) 
will  contribute  to  foster  the  sustainability  of  blue  growth  and  the  development  of  best 
strategies and smart specialisation by delivering a new knowledge base for appraising the 
socio-economic  value  of  different  marine  ecosystem  services,  provide  innovative  tools 
for  comprehensive  planning  and  management  of  maritime  activities  and  mitigate  the 
trade-offs among different uses and blue economy sectors. 
The Urban Agenda for the EU140, the Habitat III New Urban Agenda141 and Sustainable 
Development  Goal  11142  also  offers  an  important  opportunity  to  reinforce  European 
networks  between  cities  sharing  common  challenges  through  using  their  specific 
agglomeration  dynamics.  Cities  are  actors  of  innovation  and  real  life  demonstrators  of 
specific solutions they are best at to develop. This is in particular the case for the Horizon 

133   BSR Stars project webpage: http://projects.interreg-baltic.eu/projects/bsr-stars-s3-33.html 
134   Interreg Baltic Sea Region project webpage: https://www.interreg-baltic.eu/about-projects.html 
135   https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research/crosscutting-activities/danube-strategy/innovation-partnership  
136   https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/sea_basins_en   
137   http://www.atlanticresource.org/aora/    
138   http://www.bluemed-project.eu/   
139   https://www.bonusportal.org/   
140   http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/themes/urban-development/agenda/  
141   https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda  
142   http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/   

44 

 
                                                            
2020 Smart and Sustainable Cities demonstration projects. Smart and Sustainable Cities 
therefore are important actors in smart specialisation strategies. 

Cities face various challenges nowadays. For example, they can be leaders in linking circular economy and 
the  bioeconomy.  The  city  of  Amsterdam143  estimates  that  the  better  recycling  of  high  value  organic 
residue streams could generate 150 million EUR additional economic activity, create 1.200 jobs and save 
600.000 MT of CO2. If Europe's 50 largest cities were to copy this vision, then the scaled-up impacts could 
be  between  7.5  -  12  billion  EUR  in  economic  added  value,  and  60.000  -  100.000  new  jobs,  and  CO2 
emissions savings of 30 - 50 million MT144 

3.2.5  European-level support for smart specialisation investment across borders 

The Horizon 2020 regulation foresees the possibility to develop close interactions with 
the  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds,  which  specifically  help  to  strengthen 
local,  regional  and  national  research  and  innovation  capabilities,  particularly  in  the 
context of smart specialisation strategies.145 

As  part  of  Horizon  2020  Widening  measures,  in  several  Member  States  (e.g.  Poland),  national 
competitions  were  held  by  relevant  Ministries  in  order  to  identify  the  best  proposals  for  the  EU-wide 
competition – a first in the history of Framework Programmes. Equally, because of the link (Teaming in 
particular) with regions' Smart Specialisation Strategies for Research and Innovation, some Member States 
have taken the initiative to link the actions with their Operational Programmes in ESIF (e.g. Poland, Czech 
Republic). 
The  project  EU-Great146  provides  guidelines  and  listed  R&I  initiatives  that  combine  already  different 
funding mechanisms. The reports were published in 2016 and include a map of large RDI initiatives with 
hands-on  analysis  and  elaboration  of  concrete  plans  for  investment.  The  project  also  focused  on 
investigating the best approaches adopted and barriers encountered by stakeholders when combining funds 
from  different  public  and  private  finance  sources  at  European,  national  and  regional  level  to  co-finance 
large-scale  RDI  initiatives  -  specifically  to  translate  successful  research  results  and  lab-scale  prototypes 
into  demonstrators,  production  pilot-lines,  first  market  replications  and  commercialised  products  and 
services. 
The project RIS3-Online147 aims to develop an e-policy platform augmented with a toolbox of applications 
and online services, which will assist national and regional authorities in the EU in elaborating or revising 
their smart specialisation agenda, in terms of policies and strategy. 
The  project  SCREEN148  aims  at  the  definition  of  a  replicable  systemic  approach  towards  a  transition  to 
Circular  Economy  in  EU  regions  within  the  context  of  the  Smart  Specialization  Strategy,  through  the 
identification and implementation of operational synergies between R&I investments from H2020 and the 
European Structural and Investment Funds, thus contributing to novel future eco-innovative and horizontal 
business models across different value chains. 
The  project  CLUSTERNANOROAD149  is  aimed  at  developing  and  implementing  effective  smart 
specialization  strategies  in  the  field  of  NMBP150  aligned  with  cluster  development,  thus  accelerating 
differentiation and structural change towards a knowledge-based economy for all European regions. 

The European Pilot Production Network (EPPN) will cluster and coordinate pilot activities in the area 
of  nanotechnology  and  advanced  materials  technology  upscaling  and  pilot  production.  Horizon  2020, 
through  its  industrial  leadership  pillar,  has  invested  more  than  EUR  150  million  in  Nanotechnology  and 
Advanced  Materials  pilot  lines  that  enable  demonstration  in  an  industrial  environment.  They  support  in 

143   Circular Amsterdam: a vision and action agenda for the city & metropolitan area", Circle Economy, 

Fabric TNO, Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016 

144   European Commission, DG RTD.F.2 estimations (1/2017)  
145   Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 

establishing Horizon 2020 
146   http://eu-great-project.eu/ 
147   http://www.onlines3.eu/ 
148   http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/205933_en.html 
149 
150   Nanotechnologies, advanced Materials, Biotechnology and advanced manufacturing and Processing 

 https://clusternanoroad.wordpress.com/ 

45 

 
                                                            
particular SMEs in the access to and scale-up of new developments. There are currently more than 70 pilot 
lines across 30 different Member States and European Regions.  

In  addition,  a  number  of  European  mechanisms  for  interregional  cooperation  exist 
that are supportive for the alignment of smart specialisation investment across borders:  

 

Joint  Programme  Initiatives  are  structured  and  strategic  processes  aiming  at  pooling  national 
research efforts to tackle common European challenges in the area of R&D and to use public resources 
more  effectively.  Within  JPIs'  scope  Member  States  agree,  in  a  voluntary  basis  and  in  a  partnership 
approach,  on  common  visions  and  pathways  to  address  major  societal  challenges.  By  committing  to 
JPIs, Member States implement joint Strategic Research Agendas in key areas. 

  Contractual  Public  Private  Partnerships  are  bringing  innovations  to  key  industrial  sectors.  As 
broad, cross-sectorial initiatives, they are also ideally positioned to advance the breakthrough research 
required  to  address  major  societal  challenges,  economic  growth  and  job  creation.  Their  successful 
research results and their ability to attract higher industry involvement have led to an increase in the 
number of innovation activities such as demonstrations, pilot plants and prototyping. 

  European  Innovation  Partnerships  are  a  new  approach  to  R&I  in  the  EU.  Activities  are 
implemented in five areas ("Active & Healthy Ageing", "Agricultural Sustainability and Productivity", 
"Smart Cities and Communities", "Water", and "Raw Materials"). EIPs are challenge-driven, focusing 
on societal benefits and a rapid modernisation of the associated sectors and markets. EIPs act across 
the  whole  research  and  innovation  chain,  bringing  together  all  relevant  actors  at  EU,  national  and 
regional  levels  in  order  to  step  up  research  and  development  efforts,  to  coordinate  investments  in 
demonstration and pilots and to anticipate and fast-track any necessary regulation and standards.151 
  European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) is an independent EU body that aims to spur 
innovation  and  entrepreneurship  through  its  Knowledge  and  Innovation  Communities152  (KICs),  by 
bringing together leading universities, research labs and business. In doing so, the Institute reinforces 
Europe's innovation capacity by creating innovation ecosystems that can react in an effective way to 
relevant  thematic  challenges  through  the  creation  of  innovative  products,  start-ups  and  a  new 
generation of entrepreneurs. 

  The  Cluster  excellence  programme  under  COSME  with  an  estimated  budget  of  8.25  million  until 
2020  aims  to  raise  the  cluster  management  capacities  towards  creating  more  world-class  clusters 
across the EU. So far, 11 cluster excellence projects are being supported that bring together 57 cluster 
organisations  that  represent  over  11,000  SMEs.  They  engage  in  twinning,  capacity  building  and  the 
development  of  strategic  activities  to  professionalise  the  support  services  that  cluster  organisations 
offer to their SME members153. 

  European  Strategic  Cluster  Partnerships  -  Going  International  (ESCPs-4i)  154  are  transnational 
cluster partnerships that develop and implement joint internationalisation strategies to support SME in 
accessing  global  value  chains.  15  Partnerships  have  so  far  been  supported  under  COSME's  Cluster 
Internationalisation Programme for SMEs (with another 9 non-funded Partnerships being set up as a 
result), which has an estimated budget of EUR 15.5 million until 2020. They gather about 150 cluster 
organisations  across  23  European  Member  States,  representing  a  potential  to  support  the 
internationalisation of more than 17,000 European SMEs. Partnerships focus on industrial and cross-
sectoral areas and target cooperation towards specific third markets.   

  The European Cluster Collaboration Platform155 represents the European tool to connect the cluster 
community  within  and  beyond  Europe  and  support  international  cluster  cooperation.  The  Platform 
provides a mapping and profiling of over 600 cluster organisations currently registered (representing 
around 60,000 SMEs), a partners search tool, access to international cluster matchmaking events and 
up-to-date  information  on  the  cluster  landscape  in  strategic  third  countries  with  a  view  to  promote 
international  cluster  cooperation  and  facilitate  the  integration  of  European  SMEs  in  global  value 
chains.  It  also  integrated  the  mapping  of  clusters  from  the  European  Cluster  Observatory  into  its 
mapping tool.  
Joint Technology Initiatives are the means to effectively implement the Strategic Research Agendas 
of a certain number of European Technology Platforms. Where existent instruments are not sufficient 
to  achieve  the  platform's  objectives,  the  JTI  enables  necessary  leadership  and  coordination 

 

151   http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?pg=eip   
152  There  are  currently  six  KICs :  EIT  Climate-KIC,  EIT  InnoEnergy,  EIT  Digital,  EIT  RawMaterials, 

EITHealth and EIT Food. 

153   http://www.clustercollaboration.eu/eu-initiative/cluster-excellence-calls 
154   http://www.clustercollaboration.eu/eu-cluster-partnerships 
155    http://www.clustercollaboration.eu/ 

46 

 
                                                            
mechanisms. Current JTI's are operating in thematic researches on health, transport, energy, ICTs and 
bio-based products.  

  The  Startup  Europe  (SE)  initiative  aims  at  reinforcing  the  links  between  people,  business  and 
associations who build and scale up the startup ecosystem. Under this objective several initiatives and 
networks have been promoted such as the Web Investors Forum, the Accelerator Assembly or the 
Crowdfunding  Network,  just  to  name  a  few.  In  order  to  further  leveraging  regional  support  for 
startups,  the  Startup  Europe  Regions  Network  (SERN)156  was  launched.  This  networks  focuses  in 
interconnecting  EU  start-ups  to  create  a  critical-mass  within  the  regions  and  finally leverage  private 
investments  complementary  to  European  and  regional  ones.  SERN  collaborate  closer  with  the 
European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB).  

  Erasmus+  Key  actions  2  and  3  are  supporting  innovation  in  VET  and  higher  education.  Strategic 
partnerships  aim  at  supporting  innovation  in  the  sector  as  well  as  joint  initiatives  to  promote 
cooperation, peer-learning, and the sharing of experience. Knowledge Alliances foster innovation in 
and through higher education together with businesses, and beyond, contributing to new approaches to 
teaching  and  learning,  entrepreneurship  in  education,  and  the  modernisation  of  higher  education 
systems  in  Europe.  Sector  Skills  Alliances  aim  to  tackle  skills  gaps  with  regard  to  one  or  more 
occupational  profiles  in  a  specific  sector.  They  do  so  by  identifying  existing  or  emerging  sector 
specific  labour  market  needs  (demand  side),  and  by  enhancing  the  responsiveness  of  initial  and 
continuing VET systems, at all levels, to the labour market needs (supply side)157. 

  The European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service launched in January 2016 provides advisory 
support  services  to  a  number  of  regional  organisations  interested  in  developing  ambitious  strategies 
with  the  aim  to  improve  the  investment  readiness  in  their  regions  and  to  engage  them  more  in 
sustainable chemicals production as well as to widen the scope of thematic areas tackled to include the 
use of Gaseous Industrial Effluents as a feedstock for the chemical industry. 

3.2.6  Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms 

The Commission has responded to the increasing interest of regions to work together by 
establishing  three  thematic  smart  specialisation  platforms  (TSSP)  on  energy,  agri-food 
and industrial modernisation which have been created under the S3 Platform to facilitate 
cooperation and joint actions in the implementation of RIS3 areas across EU. The TSSPs 
emerged in the period 2015-16. The TSSP Industrial Modernisation and the TSSP Agri-
Food  were  launched  at  the  Smart  Regions  Conference  of  1-2  June  2016  -  the  TSSP 
Energy  was  officially  announced  a  year  earlier.  The  initiation  of  the  TSSPs  by  the 
European  Commission  was  coupled  with  a  call  for  expression  of  interest  to  organise 
partnerships of regions, cooperating in specific sub-domains. In less than a year, number 
of  partnerships  is  approaching  to  20  with  around  100  regions  joined  one  of  the  three 
Platforms.158  

The focus on smart specialisation investment differentiates these partnerships from other 
forms of European interregional cooperation. They are not just another research network 
or another policy learning network but have a strong business investment orientation to 
achieve economic impact. The objective is thus not only to support policy learning across 
borders  but  to  support  EU  regions  that  are  committed  to  develop  industrial  investment 
projects on shared smart specialisation areas through strategic interregional cooperation. 

156    http://startupeuropeclub.eu/sern/ 
157    https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/actions/key-action-2-cooperation-for-innovation-and-

exchange-good-practices/sector-skills-alliances_en 
158    http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/s3-thematic-platforms 

47 

 
                                                            
Graph 14: Regions involved in Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms (May 2017) 

Regions that participate in 5 or more partnerships are indicated in full black colour, those that participate in 
2-4  partnerships  are  indicated  with  a  square  patterns,  while  regions  that  participate  in  1  partnership  are 
indicated by horizontal wave lines. 
Source: European Commission, JRC 

Overview of RIS3 Partnerships under the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms (May 2017) 

Following  interregional  partnerships  have  emerged  in  three  Thematic  Smart  Specialisation  Platforms 
(TSSP): lead-regions identify a thematic area in the broader domain of their RIS3 priority for which there 
is  a  need/advantage  in  setting-up  cooperation  together  with  participating  regions  on  common  topics, 
building European value chains based on complementarities and on investing in demonstrators and pilots. 

Thematic Area 

TSSP ENERGY 

1 

Marine Renewable Energy 

2 

Sustainable construction 

3 

Bioenergy 

Participating regions (with lead regions being underlined) 

Basque  Country,  Andalusia,  Asturias,  Navarra,  (ES),  Scotland 
(UK),  Brittany,  Normandy  (FR),  Dalarna,  Skåne  (SE),  Emilia-
Romagna,  Lombardi 
(PO), 
(IT),  Flanders 
Ostrobothnia  (FI),  Southern  Denmark  (DK),  Sogn  og  Fjordane 
(NO). 

(BE),  Norte 

Andalusia,  Navarra  (ES),  Norra  Mellansverige  y  North 
Midsweden (SE),  Lapland  (FI),  Gloucestershire  County  (UK), 
Gorenjska  (SI),  Rzeszow  (PL),  North-West  Croatia(HR), 
Jämtland (SE), Lithuania (LT). 

Lapland,  North  Karelia,  South  Savo,  East  and  North  Finland 
(FI),  Castilla  y  Leon,  Extremadura,  Asturias  (ES),  Western 
Macedonia  (GR),  Eastern  Norway  (NO),  North  East  Romania 
(RU), Norrbotten, Jokkmokk (SE). 

48 

 
 
 
 
 
 
4 

Smart Grids 

5 

Solar 

TSSP AGRI-FOOD 

6 

High Technology Farming 

7 

Traceability and Big Data 

8 

Bio-economy Pilot 

9 

Smart Electronic Systems 

Pomorskie (PO), Algarve (PT), Bretagne, Provence-Alpes-Côte 
d'Azur (FR), Northern Netherlands (NE), South Trans-Danubian 
(HU), Andalusia, Basque Region (ES), North Midsweden (SE), 
West Finland (FI). 

Extremadura  (ES),  Andalusia  (ES),  Asturias  (ES),  Castile  and 
Leon  (ES),  North  Great  Plain  (Eszak-Alfold)  (HU),  Etela-
Karjala  (FI),  GAP  (TR),  Ireland,  Murcia  (ES),  Opolskie  (PL), 
Podlaskie  (PL),  Sicilia  (IT),  Slaskie  (PL),  Slovenia,  South-
Estonia  (ET),  Manisa  Subregion  (TR),  Valencia  (ES),  Veneto 
(IT) 

Tuscany,  Lazio,  Marche  (IT),  Galicia,  Extremadura,  Galicia 
(ES), Gelderland, Zuid Holland, (NL), Central Macedonia, West 
Macedonia (GR), Limburg (BE), East Sweden (SE), Auvergne-
Rhone-Alpes (FR), Weser-Ems (DE). 

Andalusia  (ES),  Sardinia,  Basilicata,  Emilia-Romagna,  Friulli-
Venezia-Giullia  (IT),  Northern  Ireland  (UK),  Ribatejo  (PO), 
Epiro  (GR),  Basque  Country,  Navarre  (ES),  South  Savo  and 
South Ostrobothnia (FI). 

Randstad  Region  (NL)  and  Lombardy  (IT),  East-Netherlands, 
South-Netherlands, North-Netherlands (NL), Basilicata, Emilia-
Romagna  (IT),  Scotland  (UK),  Tampere,  West  Finland  and 
Central  Finland  (FI),  Flanders,  Wallonia  (BE),  North  Rhine-
Westphalia,  Baden-Württemberg,  Brandenburg  (DE),  Skåne, 
Värmland  (SE),  Basque  Country,  Andalusia,  Navarra  (ES), 
Asturias (ES), Lodzkie  and Malopolska (PL). 

Flanders (BE), Wallonia (BE), Eindhoven (NL), Lower Saxony 
(DE),  North-Rhine  Westphalia  (DE),  Lombardia,  (IT),  Közép-
Dunántúl  (HU),  Navarra  (ES),  Galicia  (ES),  Asturias  (ES), 
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (FR), Greece (all regions). 

TSSP INDUSTRIAL MODERNISATION 

10 

Advanced  manufacturing  for 
energy applications 

Basque  Country  (ES),  Scotland  (UK),  Asturias,  Andalucía, 
Navarra 
(SE),  Emilia-Romagna, 
Lombardy (IT), Flanders (BE), Norte (PT), Ostrobothnia (SE) 
and Syddanmark (DK). 

(ES),  Dalarna,  Skane 

11 

12 

Bio-economy  –  innovative  use 
of non-food biomass 

Lombardy  (IT),  Randstad  (NL),  Flanders  (BE),  Värmland 
(SE),  Scotland  (UK),  Asturias,  Navarra  (ES),  North  Rhine-
Westphalia (DE), East Netherlands (NL). 

Efficient 
and 
Manufacturing 

Sustainable 

Lombardy (IT) and Catalonia (ES), Scotland (UK), Saxony 
(DE), Norte (PT), Basque Country (ES), Flanders (BE),  
Hauts-de-France (FR), Emilia Romagna (IT), Tampere (FI), 
Skane (SE), Baden Wurttemberg (DE). 

13 

High  Performance  Production 
through 3D-Printing 

Flanders  (BE),  South  Netherlands  (NL)  and  Norte  (PT). 
Asturias,  Aragon,  Catalonia,  Andalusia  (ES),  Skåne,  Orebrö 
Lan  (SE),  Tampere  (FI),  Baden-Wurttemberg,  North  Rhine-
Westphalia,  Thuringen,  Saxony 
(BE), 
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes,  Hauts-de-France 
(FR),  Randstad 
(NL),  Emilia-Romagna,  Lombardy  (IT),  Upper  Austria  (AT) 
and Malopolska (PL). 

(DE),  Wallonia 

49 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14 

New Nano-Enabled Products 

Skåne  (SE)  and  Tampere  (Fi),  Asturias,  Navarra  (ES),  North 
Rhine-Westphalia,  Baden-Württemberg 
(DE),  Auvergne-
Rhône-Alpes  (FR),  Emilia-Romagna  (IT),  South-Netherlands, 
East Netherlands (NL), Flanders, Wallonia (BE), Norte (PT). 

Innovative Textiles for creative 
industries 

Valencia  (ES),  North-East  Romania  (RO),  Catalonia,  Basque 
Member State (ES), Hauts-de-France (FR), Norte (PT), West-
Flanders (BE). 

15 

16 

Industry  4.0 
Production 
monitoring system 

for  SMEs 

/ 
performance 

17  

Sport 

18 

Medical Technologies 

Tuscany  (IT),  Castilla  y  Leon,  Valencia,  Catalonia  (ES), 
Mazowiecke (PL), Hungary, Slovenia,and Estonia. 

Lapland 
Netherlands (NL), Upper Austria (AT), Valencia (ES). 

(FI),  Flanders 

(BE),  Kainuu 

(FI),  South  of 

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes  (FR),  Lombardy  (IT),  Nord  Rhine 
Westphalia  (DE),  Baden-Wurttemberg  (DE),  Copenhagen 
Region  (DK),  South  of  Netherlands  (NL),  Flanders  (BE),  Ile 
de  France-Paris  region  (FR),  Provence  Alpes  Côte  d'Azur-
Occitanie  (FR),  Catalonia  (ES),  Navarra  (ES),  Aragon  (ES), 
Tuscany (IT) and East Netherlands (NL). 

industry 

follows  a  dual  approach 

to 
involvement.It  aims 

for  Industrial  Modernisation  (S3P-Industry 
The  Smart  Specialisation  Platform 
Modernisation)159 
interregional 
facilitate  strategic 
interregional  RIS3 
to  generate 
collaboration  and 
partnerships  of  committed  regional  authorities  as  well  as  corresponding  partnerships  of 
cluster  organisations  (as  specialised  SME  intermediaries)  and  technology  centres. 
Moreover, a call for the expression of interest for European Strategic Cluster Partnerships 
for  smart  specialisation  investments  (ESCP-S3)160  to  facilitate  the  partnering  has  been 
launched. A call for proposals with a budget of 2.8 million EUR will be published under 
the  COSME  programme 
industrial 
modernisation.161 

the  second  half  of  2017  dedicated 

in 

to 

159   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/industrial-modernisation 
160   These  new  partnerships  (ESCP-S3)  follow  the  example  of  the  set  up  of  partnerships  for  going 
international  (ESCP-4i).  For  more  information,  see  the  call  for  the  expression  of  interest  for  the 
https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/open-calls/towards-european-strategic-cluster-
partnering 
partnerships-smart-specialisation 

at 

161   http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/cosme/index.html 

50 

 
 
 
                                                            
Graph  15:  The  dual  approach  of  the  Smart  Specialisation  Platform  for  Industrial 
Modernisation 

3.2.7  RIS3 and the link to Digital Innovation Hubs and other innovation infrastructures 

The European Commission launched on 19 April 2016 the first industry-related initiative 
of the Digital Single Market package: Digitising European Industry.162 One of the main 
actions is to promote a pan-European network of regional digital innovation hubs. Digital 
innovation hubs are defined as ecosystems that consist of SMEs, large industries, start-
ups,  researchers,  accelerators,  and  investors.  One  of  the  core  elements  of  a  digital 
innovation  hub  are  competence  centres  that  offer  infrastructure  and  services  for  testing 
and  demonstrating  new  digital  solutions.163  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  should  be 
differentiated  towards  the  needs  of  local  economies  and  positions  in  European  value 
chains. A pan-European network of digital innovation hubs can also offer opportunities 
to give SMEs access to more specialised services across borders.   

In  order  to  maximize  the  impact  on  innovation  and  businesses,  digital  innovation  hubs 
should  foster  synergies  with  other  advanced  technologies  such  as  key  enabling 
technologies (e.g. sustainable manufacturing technologies, advanced materials, industrial 
biotech, nanotech). Businesses should be guided to the right competence centre with the 
relevant  expertise  in  digital,  other  advanced  technologies  or  their  combination 
corresponding to the innovation development needs of businesses. 

innovation  hubs, 

The  European  Commission  is  conducting  inventories  of  innovation  infrastructures 
in  key  enabling 
(digital 
technologies164,  pilot  lines etc.),  which  will  be  connected  with  the  Smart  Specialisation 
Platform for Industrial Modernisation. As a result of these combined efforts the European 
Commission  will  be  able  to  offer  for  the  first  time  a  comprehensive  overview  of  a 

technology  centres  with  expertise 

162   https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digitising-european-industry  
163   Such  as  Cyber-Physical-Systems  (CPS),  Internet  of  Things  (IoT),  digital  design,  simulation  and 

analytics, advanced laser-based technologies, industrial robotics, 3D printing, etc 

164   https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/kets-tools/kets-tc/map 

51 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
considerable  part  of  innovation  infrastructure  that  is  available  as  shared  infrastructure 
throughout the EU.  

Further  efforts  are  needed  to  open-up  innovation  infrastructures  at  pan-European  level. 
R&I  infrastructures  relying  on  national/regional  public  support  often  work  with  own 
national/regional  actors.  Since  these  infrastructures  are  unevenly  spread  across  Europe, 
the  majority  of  European  SMEs  are  not  likely  to  find  the  knowledge  and  services  they 
need for their specific innovation needs. On the other hand, some regions have state-of-
the art testing facilities but these are underexploited due to the lack of demand from own 
regional actors. A comprehensive multi-level (EU, national, regional) approach is needed 
to ensure pan-European access for actors to R&I infrastructures. Finally, synergies with 
the  Connecting  Europe  Facility  (CEF)  programme  aiming  at  providing  infrastructure 
deployment in transport, energy and digital sector should also be found.  

3.2.8  Maturity of mechanisms to support investment in innovation across borders: 

Innovation  policy  has  become  more  outward  looking  to  co-develop  solutions  that  go 
beyond the capacity of regional and national innovation systems.165 Industrial leadership 
in Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) needs to develop full complementarities between 
lead-regions in KETs and lead-regions in specific application domains.166 This includes 
identification  of  best  practices  and  successful  test-beds  for  regional  upscaling  to 
innovation and replicability of the model to other regions.   

The  Basque  Country  has  a  relevant  track  record  in  terms  of  regional  public  investments  in  industrial 
nanotechnology  research  as  well  as  in  participation  in  EU  (Horizon  2020)-funded  pilot  projects.    An 
example of synergies at project implementation level could be envisaged in the case of the PLATFORM 
Project167.  The  expertise  needed  to  compete  at  European  level  for  being  a  beneficiary  of  Horizon  2020 
industrial  leadership  pillar  funding  has  been  possible  thanks  to  the  support  received  by  the  Basque 
Administration  for  knowledge  generation  through  regional  funds.  Regional  funds  will  also  allow  a 
consortium of Basque companies to scale up the PLATFORM pilot plant and produce nanomaterials to be 
incorporated  in  their  production processes, contributing  to take  another  step  further  in  the  long  road  that 
involves the incorporation of nanotechnologies in industrial processes. 

The  challenge  is  to  cope  with  a  growing  complexity  of  interdependent  actors  and 
decisions  operating  at  different  levels  and  in  different  places.  This  is  reflected  in  a 
multiplicity  of  financing  sources,  often  based  on  different  rules  such  as  state  aid, 
taxation, eligibility, different objectives (ESIF, Horizon 2020, national, private etc.) and 
different  time-lines.  The  integration  of  EU  support  with  private  sector  investment 
decisions is hampered by the fragmentation of programmes and calls.   

The  interregional  investment  projects  for  'joint-demonstration'  by  the  Vanguard  Initiative  (which  are  the 
most advanced demo-cases) have signalled bottlenecks at several levels and proposed a number of actions: 

 

 

Development  of  good  business  plans:  specific  knowledge  for  conversion  of  project  ideas  in 
structured projects, and development of business plans (including IPR issues) and financing plans 
(including  public  and  private  parts).  Close-to-market  piloting  and  demonstration  will  require  an 
economic logic, especially for 'bankable' projects that aim at co-financing from EIB or other banks.  

Effective  financial  engineering:    specific  knowledge  for  combining  funding  sources  and 
synchronisation  of  investments  in  decentralised  cooperation.  Already  first  explorations  are 
underway (e.g. SCREEN project168). 

165    European Commission (2016), Open science, open innovation, open to the world: a vision for Europe  
166   D. Foray, Smart Specialisation and new industrial policy 
167   http://www.platform-project.eu/ 
168   Synergic  Circular  Economy  across  European  Regions  (SCREEN)  project  coordinated  by  the  Lazio 
Region  and  financed  under  the  H2020-EU.3.5.4.  call  (Enabling  the  transition  towards  a  green 
economy and society through eco-innovation).  

52 

 
                                                            
 

 

 

In  many  cases  the  connection  between  existing  pilot-  and  demonstration  facilities,  to  promote 
mutual access for companies from other regions, is the first step to take.  

In the context of the Investment Plan there is a need to create conditions for greater possibilities to 
exploit support from EU level financial instruments and EFSI for multi-actor and staged investment 
projects. Not only the instruments need to be tailored to the needs, but also the speed of delivery is a 
condition for success.  

Further experimentation with existing programmes for support to interregional co-investment can be 
the aggregation of Interred B (transnational cooperation) calls (based on the present experience of 
extending the geographical scope of the calls).  

to  “develop 

In conclusion, early results in implementation indicate a strong demand from regions. A 
vast majority (86%) of the respondents to the public consultation identified the need for 
the  EU 
interregional  cooperation  regarding  smart  specialisation”. 
Furthermore,  close  to  one  fifth  (18%)  of  the  respondents  highlighted  that  they  face 
“difficulties to identify other regions with similar or related strategies”.  However, there 
remains  a  need  to  simplify  national  and  ESI  fund  procedures  for  programmes  to  better 
support  interregional  projects169  and  to  facilitate  collaboration  with  the  existing  broad 
range of platforms and initiatives at EU level. 

3.3  Leveraging research and innovation in less developed and industrial transition 

regions 

Both  the  development  process  for  smart  specialization  strategies  and  their  content  is 
determined by the level of development of the socio-economic structures, the innovation 
systems,170   the  business and entrepreneurial composition  as well as  of the institutional 
and  administrative  arrangements  in  the  Member  States  and  regions.  These  conditions 
vary  substantially  across  the  regions.  The  process  towards  the  formation  of  smart 
specialisation  strategies  in  regions  and  Member  States  with  a  weak  innovation  or 
entrepreneurial  legacy  was  substantially  different  to  the  one  in  regions  which  have  a 
history of excellence at European level on innovation and business competitiveness; the 
strategy development has followed different paths and methodology across regions, and 
it can be concluded there is no “one-size-fits-all” model.171  

3.3.1  Tailoring through RIS3 leads to address specific bottlenecks in less developed regions  

Promoting  innovation  and  competitiveness  through  RIS3  strategies  is  a  significant 
challenge for low-income or low-growth regions with weak institutional structures.  They 
require specific attention with regards to human capital, skills development and the role 
of  higher  education  institutions  and  VET  providers,  as  well  as  to  natural  capital.  Both 
universities  and  providers  of  vocational  training  have  a  strategic  role  to  play  in  these 
innovation ecosystems. More generally, innovation actors in less developed regions are 
often not very well connected to a wider research and innovation community and global 
value chains. This results in duplication of research efforts and barriers to cooperation.  

169   Regulation  (EU)  No.  1303/2013,  Article  70(2)(b)  of  the  Common  Provisions  Regulation  (CPR) 
allows  to  implement  ESI  funds  outside  the  programme  area,  but  still  within  the  European  Union, 
provided  that the  total  amount  allocated  to  operations  located  outside  the  programme  area  does  not 
exceed  15  %  of  the  support  from  the  ERDF.  Nevertheless,  this  option  has  rarely  been  used  by 
Managing Authorities. 

170   "Templates  of  smart  specialisation:  Experiences  of  place-based  regional  development  strategies  in 
- 

-  Baier,  Elisabeth;  Kroll,  Henning;  Zenker,  Andrea 

Germany  and  Austria" 
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/74482/1/745637779.pdf  

(2013) 

171   "The  Challenge  of  Smart  Specialisation  in  less  favoured  Regions"  -  Henning  Kroll  –  Fraunhofer 

Institute (2017) 
http://www.isi.fraunhofer.de/isiwAssets/docs/p/de/arbpap_unternehmen_region/2017/ap_r1_2017.pdf 

 - 

53 

 
                                                            
Targeted  support  to  overcome  these  bottlenecks  can  facilitate  the  implementation  of 
RIS3.  The  policy  action  dashboard  of  the  Regional  Ecosystem  Scoreboard  of  the 
European  Cluster  Observatory  offers  a  tool  that  identifies  bottlenecks  that  may  be 
particularly promising to address by policy actions. 172   

The experience in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace173 is an example of providing targeted RIS3 support 
to lagging regions, which pointed to:  

  A lack of trust and collaboration culture between stakeholders in the quadruple helix, but also inside 
each part of the helix (among firms, among public services, etc.). Building trust, collaboration culture, 
understanding and commitment towards RIS3 has proven very important.   

  A number of Member State-specific and region-specific bottlenecks hampering RIS3 implementation 
(e.g.  many  companies  having  tax  debts,  and  thus  not  eligible  to  receive  ERDF  funding;  ambiguity 
regarding the legal power of regional governors to launch calls,...), which require tailored solutions 
Important spill-overs effects in terms of policy learning. 

 

Outcomes to date of the ongoing project "Targeted RIS3 support to lagging regions" and 
of  the  finalised  project  on  "Targeted  RIS3  support  to  Eastern  Macedonia  and  Thrace" 
indicate  an  increased  understanding  of  RIS3  and  the  concept  of  entrepreneurial 
discovery,  the  importance  of  building  continuously  trust  and  a  culture  of  collaboration 
through  a  focus  on  concrete results,  the  need  for  a  good  coordination  between  national 
and  regional  stakeholders,  as  well  as  for  a  focus  on  concrete  results  in  the  short  term. 
Both projects also show that lagging regions can take a leading role in aspects related to 
RIS3,  as  shown  by  the  leading  role  of  Eastern  Macedonia  for  Greece  in  implementing 
RIS3  for  the  whole  of  Greece,  and  by  the  RIS3  Monitoring  Working  Group,  in  which 
lagging  regions  jointly  develop  a  hands-on  approach  to  RIS3  monitoring,  which  will 
serve as a basis for other regions.  

A  majority  of  the  lagging  regions  participating  in  the  pilot  programme  have  limited 
capacity to implement RIS3 activities that go beyond the use of ERDF funds. Under the 
EP preparatory action for targeted RIS3 support in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, a RDI 
funding  guide174,  as  well  as  a  number  of  case  studies  for  combined  funding  or  projects 
have been elaborated to facilitate the use of different funds. An important condition for 
leveraging  ERDF  funds  with  other  funds  for  RIS3  appears  to  be  the  existence  of  RIS3 
teams  at  regional  level  dedicated  to  RIS3  implementation  (and  not  only  to  ERDF 
implementation).  
Benchmarking175  can  facilitate  policy  learning  by  helping  regional  policy  makers  to 
identify  other  similar  regions  as  reference  peers  facing  similar  structural  opportunities 
and  constraints.  More  specifically,  benchmarking  with  structurally  similar  regions 
facilitates the understanding of what policy practices could and should be transferred and 
replicated  or  rather  avoided.  It  is  also  the  first  (necessary)  step  towards  explaining 
varying growth paths of similar territories. 

172   http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cluster/observatory/regional-ecosystem-scoreboard_en 
173   Mark  Boden,  Patrice  dos  Santos,  Karel  Haegeman,  Elisabetta  Marinelli  and  Susana  Valero    (2015) 
European  Parliament  Preparatory  Action:  "Actual  and  desired  state  of  the  economic  potential  in 
regions outside the Greek capital Athens" Final Report, EUR 27570, 
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/20182/143661/European+Parliament+Preparatory+Acti
on+RIS3+in+REMTh+Final+Report/ecc81ce1-3542-4cd6-bb93-c2679e218b43 
174   RDI funding guide and case studies: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/rdi-guide  
175   Navarro,  Mikel,  Juan  José  Gibaja,  Susana  Franco,  Asier  Murciego,  Carlo  Gianelle,  Alexander 
Kleibrink,  and  Fatime  Barbara  Hegyi.  2014.  “Regional  Benchmarking  in  the  Smart  Specialisation 
Process:  Identification  of  Reference  Regions  Based  on  Structural  Similarity.”  S3  Working  Paper 
03/2014. European Commission, Joint Research Centre.   
https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipt/iptwpa/jrc89819.html  

54 

 
                                                            
 
 
Policy  practice  can  be  substantially  enhanced  across  regions  by  improving  the  flow  of 
information  and  transfer  of  knowledge  concerning  actual  objectives,  strategies,  plans, 
interventions and specific measures designed and implemented in different territories by 
different policy authorities.  This is especially true in  a context  of scarcity of resources, 
like the one faced currently by most local and regional administrations in the European 
Union.  Such  constraints  do  not  give  much  room  for  autonomously  experimenting  with 
different policy measures. This is why it is of utmost importance to draw the right lessons 
from other regions and share past experience. 

3.3.2  Mutual learning on design and implementation 

Europe's diversity means that productivity gains from innovation can be reaped in many 
specialisation areas. Identifying and deploying this potential can be challenging, even in 
more  developed  regions.  Support  mechanisms  and  platforms  for  mutual  learning  were 
therefore  instrumental  in  the  design  and  implementation  of  RIS3  strategies  through  the 
TAIEX REGIO Peer-2-Peer176 and S3 Platform177. TAIEX is designed to share expertise 
between  ERDF's  and  Cohesion  Fund's  Managing  Authorities.  It  helps  public  officials 
involved  in  the  management  of  these  funds  to  exchange  knowledge,  good  practice  and 
practical solutions to concrete problems thus improving their administrative capacity and 
ensuring better results for the EU investments.  

This  exchange  can  take  the  form  of  an  "Expert  Mission"  (EU  Member  State  experts  can  be  sent  to 
institutions  in  other  Member  States  that  have  requested  peer  advice  and  exchange  of  experience  on  a 
specific topic), "Study Visits" (employees from a requesting institution can be sent on a working visit to 
other EU Member State institutions to learn from peers and exchange good practices) and "single or multi-
country workshops". 12 events have already been organised by the Directorate General for Regional and 
Urban  Policy  of  the  European  Commission  for  local  and  regional  authorities  of  Romania,  Lithuania, 
Poland,  The  Netherlands  and  Spain  since  September  2015.  These  included  workshops,  study  visits  and 
experts' missions from which a total of 225 stakeholders benefitted so far. In 2017, four more study visits 
are expected to take place in Romania, Poland, Latvia and Portugal.  

The  S3  Platform  has  provided  an  additional  European  added  value  to  the  process  of 
strategy development by mapping the R&I diversity in EU regions, addressing European 
challenges  and  promoting  policy  learning.  This  has  allowed  regions  to  adopt  best 
practice,  benchmark  their  mechanisms  against  world-class  standards  and  address  their 
weaknesses. 

In  2015,  Bulgaria  was  the  first  Member  State  to  take  advantage  of  the  Horizon  2020  Policy  Support 
Facility  to  support  wide-ranging  reforms.  The  peer  review  provided  external  advice  to  the  Bulgarian 
authorities  in  the  process  of  evaluating  their  R&I  system  in  the  form  of  10  policy  messages,  giving  a 
significant  push  to  the  development  of  the  smart  specialisation  strategy  (referred  to  in  Bulgaria  as 
Innovation  Strategy  for  Smart  Specialisation  ISSS  or  IRIS3).  Latvia  as  well  uses  this  support  facility  to 
ensure the completion of the reform of the funding system for public research that goes hand in hand with 
the  implementation  of  the  smart  specialization  strategy.  Lithuania  has  successfully  used  peer-to  peer 
opportunity  to  learn  from  the  experience  of  the  Netherlands  in  the  identification  and  implementation  of 
smart specialisation. 

The  need  to  spread  excellence  and  widen  participation  has  been  supported  at  EU  level 
through  Teaming,  Twinning,  and  ERA  chairs.  The  Lagging  Regions  project178  aims  to 
provide  targeted  support  to  low-growth  and  low-income  regions.    Cohesion  policy 
provides  a  broad  range  of  levers  to  implement  RIS3  in  low  growth  and  low  income 
reform,  ex-ante 
regions 

to  capacity  building,  administrative 

through  support 

176   http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/how/improving-investment/taiex-regio-peer-2-peer/ 
177   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ 
178   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ris3-in-lagging-regions   

55 

 
                                                            
conditionalities and strengthened monitoring and evaluation.179 Finally, to support policy 
reforms  at  national  level,  the  Horizon  2020  Policy  Support  Facility  (PSF)180  has  also 
proved to be useful providing policy advice and facilitating exchanges of good practices 
and learning among participating countries. 

3.4  Harnessing synergies and complementarities between EU policies and 

instruments 

The  need  for  synergies  and  complementarities  between  EU  funds  for  research  and 
innovation has been increasingly highlighted at political level, including through Council 
Conclusions181  and  by  the  European  Parliament182.  To  achieve  smart,  sustainable  and 
inclusive  growth,  the  "Common  Strategic  Framework"183  stresses  the  importance  of 
synergies  and  complementarities  between  EU  funds.  Excellence  based  policies  that  do 
not have a regional dimension need to be combined with national and regional innovation 
policies  to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  regional  actors  to  participate  in  the  European 
Research  Area  (ERA)  and  reinforce  place-specific  processes  of  market  led  innovation 
built on existing clusters and governance systems. 

The  "Common  Strategic  Framework"  stresses  the  importance  of  synergies  and 
complementarities between EU funds and RIS3 strategies provide a robust framework to 
develop  synergies  as  they  should  include  "up-stream  actions"  to  prepare  regional  R&I 
players to participate in Horizon 2020 and "down-stream actions" to exploit and diffuse 
R&I results, stemming from Horizon 2020 and preceding programmes, into the market. 
Many  of  the  identified  smart  specialisation  priorities  also  allow  matching  with  H2020 
themes and thus offer opportunities for developing synergies, for example, in coordinated 
parallel  actions  that  complement  each  other.  Synergies  can  be  envisaged  also  for  other 
instruments funded under ESIF e.g. the Connecting Europe Facility that manages cross-
national cooperation activities, where "down-stream" actions could maximise innovation 
absorption. Synergies can help in closing the innovation gap throughout the EU regions 
as  reflected  in  the  participation  success  rates  in  the  Framework  Programmes  Horizon 
2020. 

ELI  -  Extreme  Light  Infrastructure  (distributed)  project184  is  an  example  of  the  upstream 
synergies  located  in  Czech  Republic,  Hungary  and  Romania.  It  is  supported  by  these  Member 
States  under  their  ESIF  resources  complementing  the  European  Strategy  Forum  on  Research 
Infrastructures, ESFRI. The European Spallation Source (ESS)185 is also part of the ESFRI and 
receives support for the construction costs from ESIF. In the current programming period, around 
EUR 20 million of ESIF in Sweden will be allocated to this research infrastructure. Also some 
partner  countries  such  as  Estonia  and  Czech  Republic  are  applying  the  new  provision  in  the 
Cohesion  Policy  regulation  (Article  70)  that  allows  regions  to  spend  part  of  their  ERDF 
allocations  (up  to  15%)  in  other  regions,  even  abroad,  and  thus  invest  their  ESIF  in  the 
construction of the ESS. 

179   COM(2015)  639  final  -  Investing  in  jobs  and  growth  -  maximising  the  contribution  of  European 

Structural and Investment Funds  

180   See point 3.1.2. 
181   Council  Conclusions  of  27  May  2016  on  'Research  and  innovation  friendly  regulation'  and 
Conclusions adopted at GAC on 24 June on 'A more R&I friendly, smart and simple Cohesion Policy 
and the European Structural and Investment Funds more generally' 

182   European Parliament resolution on Synergies between structural funds and Horizon 2020, adopted by 

the Commission on 4 July 2016 

183   Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, Common Strategic Framework, Annex I 
184   http://www.eli-laser.eu 
185   https://europeanspallationsource.se 

56 

 
                                                            
FP7  TIGER  and  TIGER  DEMO  projects  are  examples  of  down-stream  synergies.  The  projects 
paved the way to European Transport Corridors186 through regional demonstration sites supported 
by  ESIF.  TIGER  ‘Transit  via  innovative  gateway  concepts  solving  European  intermodal  rail 
needs’  is  a  7th  Framework  Programme  (FP7)  project  that  supported  the  development  of 
competitive European rail transport and of co-modal freight logistics chains. TIGER DEMO, the 
follow-up project, aimed at taking the pilots developed by the TIGER project forward into a full-
scale  demonstration  for  subsequent  market  uptake  and  commercial  exploitation.  The  results  of 
these  pilots,  after  validation,  are  replicable  in  other  EU  ports  and  are  ready  for  market 
exploitation.  For example, the TIGER DEMO co-modal solutions for maritime traffic flows are 
implemented  in  several  geographical  sites  in  Europe  e.g.  the  construction  of  the  'Genoa  Fast 
Corridor'  aiming  to  reduce  congestion  in  the  Genoa  harbour,  partially  funded  by  the  Liguria 
region via ESIF. 

"Brückenbildung  NRW"  initiative  in  Germany  is  part  of  the  "Smart  Specialisation  Strategy"  of 
North-Rhine Westphalia to incentivise the transfer of FP7/H2020 research results to local firms 
for  developing  commercial  solutions.  F3Factory  project  under  FP7  worked  out  solutions  to 
enhance  performance  of  production  processes  with  regards  to  safety,  cost  effectiveness  and 
energy efficiency. The results have been used by the ERDF funded MoBiDiK project.  

MoBiDiK  made  a  new  biopharmaceutical  production  process  work  in  a  demonstration  plant 
based  on  modular  plug-and-produce  chemical  production  technology.  This  helps  meet  the 
growing demand for specialised therapies, decrease production cost and leverage private funds. 
This  succession  of  projects  leading  to  an  innovative  product  supports  the  smart  specialisation 
priorities of North-Rhine Westphalia i.e., Machine and plant engineering and Life sciences.  

Additionally,  in  some  countries  smart  specialisation  also  helped  regions  in  prioritising 
investments, setting a clear agenda for research and innovation, and in raising the quality of local 
governance.  A  good  example  for  this  is  the  Wrocław  Research  Centre  EIT+  project  in  Poland 
supported by ERDF. It is a research and innovation infrastructure which combines an advanced 
technology park, thematic cluster and research and development institute. 11000 square metres of 
lab space funded from ERDF conducts applied research in the areas of nanotechnology, material 
technology,  biotechnology,  medicine,  energy  and  climate  looking  for  marketable  technology 
solutions.  

Graph 16: Synergy building through upstream and downstream actions 

Complementarities  are  central  for  the  emergence  of  novel  technologies  and  the 
‘functioning’  of  existing  ones.  Automobiles,  for  example,  require  a  network  of  gas  or 

186  https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/infrastructure/ten-t-guidelines/corridors_en  

57 

 
 
                                                            
charging  stations,  a  road  infrastructure,  traffic  and  safety  regulations,  repair  shops, 
specialized  suppliers  and  insurance  services.  Smart  phones  require  a  network  of  base- 
and  switching  stations,  interconnectors  to  landlines  and  the  internet,  interoperability 
standards,  different  kinds  of  software,  service  providers  etc.  Complementarity  at  the 
sector or system level occurs, and if – combined – these components better contribute to 
fulfilling the societal function of the sector than each component on its own. Sector level 
complementarities can be viewed through the eyes of consumers or through the eyes of 
policy makers or regulatory authorities.187 

Most projects with the potential to give rise to a new activity require simultaneous large-
scale  investments  to  be  made  in  order  to  become  profitable.  All  the  necessary  services 
and  complementary  activities  have  fixed  costs  and  are  unlikely  to  start  unless  the 
potential  provider  have  enough  positive  expectations  regarding  the  future  of  the  smart 
specialisation strategy. Profitable new activities can fail to develop unless upstream and 
downstream investments are made simultaneously188. 

Building  on  a  better  participation  in  Horizon2020  and  on  stronger  interaction  with  the  Bio-based 
Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) would help to mobilize the political commitment for the broader 
uptake of the bioeconomy in the lagging regions involving all the sectors. An interesting example of a large 
scale investment funded by BBI Initiative in the CEE region is BIOSKOH189 flagship project. The project 
will build an advanced biorefinery in eastern Slovakia. It has received funding from BBI during the 2015 
call (with EUR 13.4 million of funding to the Slovak partner) and has started September 2016. This can 
serve as a point of reference for the regional stakeholders.  
Another  successful example  in  the  Bioeconomy area  is the  EUR  17  million project  (FIRST2RUN)190  in 
Sardinia  /  Italy,  that  transformed  an  abandoned  oil-refinery  into  a  biorefinery  that  uses  dry  self-growing 
crops (cardoon) for the production of chemicals for food, feed and energy. This project created local jobs in 
an  abandoned  area  where  no  plants  can  be  easily  grown.  ESIF  may  further  provide  opportunities  for 
complementary actions at local level and cross-border cooperation for exchange of knowledge. 

Present  cooperation  models  often  reflect  a  linear  innovation  model  and  emphasise 
cooperation  in  research  among  peers  within  a  specific  technology  domain.  This 
constrains the innovation activities often to pre-commercial research cooperation among 
competitors  and  to  technology-push  strategies.  The  demand-pull  model  is  gaining  now 
more  consideration,  with  a  mission  oriented  research  (pulled  by  societal  challenges).191 
The creation of entrepreneurial opportunities as part of such approach will be crucial to 
achieve impact. 

3.4.1  Mechanisms for synergies 

The new regulatory frameworks for Horizon 2020 and Cohesion Policy provide a number 
of  instruments  to  reinforce  synergies192,  including  the  possibility  for  the  managing 
authorities of the ESIF programmes to allocate amounts from the operational programme 
to actions located outside the programme area but within the Union and for the benefit of 
the programme area (Article 70, Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013).  

187   Jochen Markard and Volker H. Hoffmann, Analysis of complementarities: Framework and examples 
from  the  energy  transition,  in  Technological  Forecasting  and  Social  Change,  Volume  111,  October 
2016, Pages 63–75 

188   Foray, ibid 
189   http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/204326_en.html 
190   The project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European 

Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, http://www.first2run.eu/ 

191   See RTD: on 'Market Creating Innovation' 
192   Regulation  (EU)  No  1303/2013:  Articles  65(11),  70(2),  96(3)d  and  Common  Strategic  Framework, 

Annex 1; Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013, Article 37. 

58 

 
                                                            
On  the  side  of  cohesion  policy  the  mechanism  for  innovation  related  synergies  is 
anchored  in  the  RIS3  requirement.  At  the  level  of  Partnership  Agreements  and 
operational  programmes,  Member  States  are  required  to  demonstrate  how  various 
funding  streams  will  be  coordinated.  Regulatory  possibilities  have  been  provided  to 
combine  Horizon  2020  and  ESI  funds  in  the  same  project,  to  perform  successive  and 
parallel  projects193  and  the  use  of  the  simplified  cost  options  and  flat  rates  have  been 
eased.194  In  addition,  there  are  greater  possibilities  to  spend  ESI  funds  outside 
programme  areas.195  Finally,  RIS3  strategies  were  required  to  build  synergies  and 
complementarities  also  with  other  ESI  Funds  (e.g;  Interreg  Europe),  Horizon  2020  and 
other EU innovation funding programmes, such as COSME. 

On the side of research and innovation policy, the purpose of fostering synergies between 
different  EU  funding  programmes  and  policies  to  attain  the  Europe  2020  objectives  of 
smart,  sustainable  and  inclusive  growth  led  to  a  stronger  acknowledgement  of  the 
importance of Cohesion Policy investments in R&I, and a higher recognition of regional 
governments as innovation policy actors. It was also recognised that there is a need for 
involving all regions in the innovation cycle and each focusing on its own strengths. This 
shall contribute to the closing of the research and innovation divide within the European 
Union. 

Articles  32  and  33  in  the  Regulation  (EU)  1291/2013  establishing  Horizon  2020  were 
included  that  provide  for  complementarity  of  Horizon  2020  with  other  Union  funding 
programmes  and  policies  and  synergies  with  ESI  funds.  A  special  part  for  "Spreading 
excellence and widening participation" (with about EUR 0.8 billion) has been introduced 
to Horizon 2020 aiming to fully exploit the potential of Europe's talent pool and to ensure 
that  the  benefits  of  an  innovation-led  economy  are  both  maximised  and  widely 
distributed across the Union. A practical guide196 for decision-makers at regional level is 
available  on  how  to  effectively  combine  European  structural  funds  with  Horizon  2020 
and the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking to deploy the European Bioeconomy. 
Additional technical assistance is provided by the European Investment Advisory Hub197 
to further encourage the combination of the European Structural Investment Fund and the 
European Fund for Strategic Investments to maximise the mobilisation of private sector 
capital. 

3.4.2  Progress on synergies 

Evidence from the programme negotiations and early implementation suggest that some 
progress on synergies has been made in particular at a strategic level, with a significant 
improvement in the information provided on coordination in the Partnership agreements 
and operational programmes. The situation at project level is more mixed. In spite of the 
changes  to  the  regulatory  framework,  beneficiaries  remain  concerned  that  combination 
remains complex in practice.  

In  the  context  of  Horizon  2020  calls  for  proposals  which  encourage  synergies,  further 
progress  could  be  made  to  take  synergies  into  account  –  but  without  undermining  the 

193   Enabling Synergies between European Structural Investment Funds, Horizon 2020 and other research, 
competitiveness-related  Union  programmes.  Guidance  for  policy-makers  and  implementing  bodies. 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/guides/synergy/synergies_en.pdf 

194   Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, Articles 67 and 68 
195   Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, Article 70 
196   http://biconsortium.eu/sites/biconsortium.eu/files/downloads/Guidelines_BBI-ESIF-Final.pdf  
197   www.eib.org/eiah 

59 

 
                                                            
excellence criterion of Horizon 2020 – where they are a valid aspect of the business plan 
and make the project more ambitious or increase its impact. 
In  the  context  of  the  Omnibus198  regulation,  the  Commission  has  proposed  a  further 
simplification to facilitate joint funding. 

In  Teaming  proposals  of  the  Horizon  2020  Spreading  Excellence  and  Widening  Participation  part, 
national/regional authorities or other private sources are required to commit financial resources, e.g. from 
ESIF,  and  proposals  must  clearly  identify  alignment  and  complementarity  with  the  national  or  regional 
Smart Specialisation Strategies of the Member State or region from which the applicant is coming. In the 
other  two  Widening  actions  -  Twinning  and  ERA  Chairs  -  interactions  with  national/regional  authorities 
and  other  stakeholders  to  coordinate  actions  and  mobilise  support,  e.g.  from  ESIF,  are  desirable  in  the 
proposals,  and  the  proposals  are  encouraged  to  identify  alignment  and  complementarity  with  Smart 
Specialisation Strategies.  

Actions such as those under the Spreading excellence and widening participation part of 
Horizon  2020  (Teaming  in  particular)  have  an  important  role  of  mobilising  ESIF 
investments  complementing  in  a  synergetic  way  the  establishment  of  Horizon  2020 
validated  centres  of  excellence  in  low  R&I  performing  countries.  These  actions  were 
introduced  to  respond  to  the  persisting  divide  in  terms  of  research  and  innovation 
performance  of  some  Member  States199  with  the  aim  to  encourage  structural  changes 
through institution building and networking as well as bringing excellence to institutions.  

While  there  are  a  number  of  good  examples  for  the  upstream  and  downstream 
synergies200, many beneficiaries point to differences in the rules governing Horizon 2020 
and Cohesion Policy expenditure, notably in relation to eligibility rules, procurement and 
state aid. Regarding governance of the two policy frameworks there is a need for better 
clarity  of  roles  and  responsibilities  of  the  actors  involved  as  well  as  coordination  at  all 
levels. More concrete support for implementation of synergies in practice is also needed.  

There  are  encouraging  initiatives  proving  that  building  functioning  synergies  succeed.    For  example,  the 
'Clean Sky 2' - the Joint Technology Initiative between the EC and the European aeronautics industry has 
developed a methodology to concretely implement synergies. The goal is to reinforce the R&I capacity and 
the European dimension of regions in aeronautics, as well as to identify complementary areas of technical 
cooperation and to have a leverage effect from the synergies between ESIF and Clean Sky 2 funding, thus 
ensuring a higher impact of the cumulative innovation investment.  

This  initiative  mapped  the  RIS3  priority  areas  of  the  regions  and  signed  with  those  of  them  who  were 
interested  in  cooperation  Memoranda  of  Understanding  aiming  to  exchange  knowledge  and  to  jointly 
develop methods to complement and leverage Clean Sky technical content with further or parallel actions 
co-funded  by  ESIF.  This  approach  has  a  high  relevance  for  the  'widening'  Member  States  and  could 
certainly be adapted by other initiatives. 

Synergies and complementarities between various EU support programmes and funding 
are  an  important  issue  in  the  other  current  EU  programmes.  The  results  of  the  public 
consultation show that there is significant improvement as regards complementarities and 
synergies, as out of the 44% of respondents that have received funding or other support 
from more than one EU fund or programme in the past 3 years, 60% of benefited from 
synergies or a combination of different funds. 37% acknowledge that the different EU 
support or funding was mutually supportive and improved or expanded the impact of the 

198   To come into force on 1 January 2018 
199   The  Horizon  2020  Widening  actions  target  the  following  countries:  Member  States  -  Bulgaria, 
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, 
Portugal,  Romania,  Slovakia  and  Slovenia,  and  Countries  Associated  to  Horizon  2020  -  Albania, 
Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, 
Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine 

200 http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/eu-funds-working-together-for-jobs-growth-pbKI0116339/   

60 

 
                                                            
activity.  EU  support  or  funding  was  not  linked  but  complementary  for  17%  of 
respondents. Furthermore, 6% received funding from more than one fund or programme 
for the same activity. Yet, support or funding was not linked and not complementary, as 
very different actions were funded for 36% of respondents. 

Initiatives to promote synergies 

3.4.3 
The Stairway to Excellence (S2E)  201 pilot project aims to help closing the innovation 
gap  between  the  EU  regions  through  developing  and  exploiting  the  synergies  between 
European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), Horizon 2020 and other EU funding 
programmes. The S2E national events held in the last two years provided an opportunity 
for establishing informed communication between stakeholders in participating Member 
States.  This  was  recognised  as  a  novelty  in  itself  in  many  of  the  EU13  Member  States 
where  prior  consultation  of  stakeholders  consistently  signalled  the  need  of  proper 
interaction between policy makers, research and business actors. The identified fields that 
need further improvement relate to quality of R&I governance, capacity building and the 
commercialisation  of  the  research  results.202  Much  more  efforts  should  be  put  to  better 
coordination of the current information channels, offices and platforms and exchange of 
information  between  Managing  Authorities  of  the  ESIF  programmes,  Horizon  2020 
National  Contact  Points  and  other  stakeholders.  The  project  clearly  recognized  that  the 
planning safety and exploiting opportunities provided by the continuous Entrepreneurial 
Discovery  Process  (EDP)  must  be  guaranteed  through  a  long-term  vision  and  political 
commitment.  Long-term  strategic  planning  is  crucial  for  reinforcing  a  shared  vision  of 
R&I policies, building up a consensus on the prioritisation while aligning activities and 
creating  a  more  open,  transparent  and  flexible  working  culture  to  maximise  socio-
economic impacts of these investments. This can facilitate strategic business involvement 
into the wider innovation ecosystems since a stable economic and political environment 
help business actors to plan investment decisions and long-term initiatives. 
The  Seal  of  Excellence203  (SoE)  initiative  is  a  quality  label  awarded  to  proposals 
submitted  for  funding  under  the  calls  of  the  Horizon  2020  that  succeeded  a  rigorous 
evaluation,  but  could  not  be  funded  under  the  available  call  budgets.  Holders  of  the 
certificate  can  find  alternative  funding  under  the  European  Structural  and  Investment 
Funds or other sources for their outstanding project ideas. The Seal of Excellence offers 
an opportunity for regions and Member States (and any other interested actor) to benefit 
from  the  high-quality  Horizon  2020  evaluation  process.  During  its  pilot  phase  in  years 
2015-2016, the Seal of Excellence was awarded to positively evaluated proposals under 
the  SME  Instrument  Calls  of  Horizon  2020.  The  initiative  has  now  been  extended  to 
cover  Teaming  actions  under  the  Widening  part  of  Horizon  2020  as  well  as  Marie 
Skłodowska  Curie  actions.  Preparatory  work  for  extending  the  Seal  to  the  Proof  of 
Concept proposals of the European Research Council is in progress. The distribution of 
the  SoE  certificates  reflects  the  participation  in  Horizon  2020  by  the  different  Member 
States.  National  and  regional  authorities  in  Member  States  and  regions  with  sufficient 
critical  mass  of  awarded  projects  started  designing  appropriate  funding  schemes,  those 
where the number of seals is not very high, have decided to use existing funding schemes 
and integrate there the 'seal' proposals (through a system of bonuses, etc.). An increasing 
number of such support schemes exist already or are about to be launched, both for 'Seal' 
SME  Instrument  Phase  1  and  Phase  2  Seal  proposals,  at  both  national  and  /or  regional 
level (for instance in CZ, CY, EL, ES, FR, HU, IT, NO, PL, SE, SI).  

201   http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/stairway-to-excellence 
202   Stairway to Excellence – Briefs series – Issue #1 – December 2016 
203   https://ec.europa.eu/research/soe/index.cfm 

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Graph 17: Number of Seal of Excellence certificates awarded in Horizon 2020 SME 
Instrument (phase 1)   

Source: European Commission 

Graph 18: Number of Seal of Excellence certificates awarded in Horizon 2020 SME 
Instrument (phase 1I)   

Source: European Commission 

The European Commission since the beginning facilitates this work through the Seal of 
Excellence Community of Practice which has been established as a forum of discussion 
and  exchange  of  information  amongst  funding  bodies  (more  than  200  funding  bodies 
currently  members)  interested  in  implementing  the  initiative  which  has  been  rapidly 
grown up with almost all Member States represented. To facilitate them in the handling 
of  emerging  questions  when  designing  alternative  funding  schemes,  the  European 
Commission issued an 'Explanatory note of the Commission services on the application 
of State Aid Rules to national and regional funding schemes that offer alternative support 
to  SME  Instrument  project  proposals  with  a  Horizon  2020  'Seal  of  Excellence''204.  In 
order to tap into the full potential of the Seal of Excellence further steps need to be made 
towards  simplification  of  procedures  and  alignment  of  rules  between  the  two  policy 
frameworks, Horizon 2020 and ESIF. 

While  the  Commission  is  committing  to  make  the  synergies  as  operational  and 
straightforward as possible, the national and regional authorities however have a central 
role  to  play  in  this  transition  towards  greater  synergies.  Their  active  participation,  for 
example,  in  the  Seal  of  Excellence  initiative  is  essential  for  success  and  their  role  in 
maximising the take-up of projects with Seals is crucial for significant impact.  

A number of initiatives specifically seek to widen participation in Horizon 2020. These include, inter alia: 

  A Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility Mutual Learning Exercise on "Widening participation to the 
EU  Framework  Programmes  and  ensuring  synergies  between  H2020  and  European  Structural 
Investment Funds" that shall facilitate the exchange of practice between the participating countries on 

204  SWD(2017) 11 final  -  

 https://ec.europa.eu/research/soe/pdf/swd2017-

11_application_of_state_aid_rules_to_funding_schemes.pdf 

62 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
how  the  Structural  Funds  and  Horizon  2020  can  act  in  closer  synergy  to  boost  Europe's  knowledge 
base and productivity.  

  Horizon  2020  has  created  the  Start-up  Regions  of  Europe205  initiative  to  develop  synergies  and 
networking  among  regional  start  up  ecosystems  across  Europe,  linking  developed  ecosystem  to 
developing ecosystems, in particular for eastern and south eastern regions of Europe.    

  The European Institute of Innovation and Technology Regional Innovation Scheme206 (EIT RIS) that 
aims  to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  regions’  innovation  enablers  and  actors  as  well  as  the  linkages 
among  them,  by  working  closely  with  the  local  knowledge  triangle  (research,  education,  business) 
actors and facilitating the collaboration, knowledge exchange and interaction among them.  

The design process and the implementation of RIS3 and the above-mentioned initiatives 
have  significantly  increased  awareness  of  the  need  for  synergies  and  encouraged  the 
development of concrete coordination mechanisms and stronger linkages at the strategic 
planning  and  implementing  project  level.  However,  challenges  remain  in  order  to 
streamline  and  simplify  implementation  as  well  as  to  create  incentives  for  using  the 
different  funds  in  a  combined  manner.  They  include  issues  related  to  the  strategic 
framework and programming, communication and bringing the relevant actors together, 
sharing  of  best  practice  and  regularly  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  synergies.207 
Nevertheless,  the  positive  examples  presented  underline  that  efforts  are  beginning  to 
demonstrate positive results in the regions. 

205   http://startupregions.eu/ 
206   http://eit.europa.eu/activities/outreac/eit-regional-innovation-scheme-ris 
207  Final report (2017): 'Synergies between Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation and the 

European Structural and Investment Funds' 

63