Smart specialisation and the complex nature of governance: Perspectives from Portuguese regions for the Post-2020 Period

Abstract

Those readers with an interest in EU regional policy will undoubtedly have heard about smart specialisation. The concept was developed by scholars (Foray and Hall, 2009) and translated into a strategic approach for spending the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) (McCann and Ortega-Argilés 2011). It became the most well-known of the new ‘ex-ante conditionalities’, whereby EU Member States and/or regions require a Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) to spend the ESIF on research and innovation projects. As an example of a scientific concept informing policy on such a large scale – there are more than 120 S3 across Europe – smart specialisation has been the subject of many academic papers, conferences and policy learning activities, both within the EU and around the world (Pinto et al, 2019). However, implementing smart specialisation in practice is challenging and this article discusses its application in one EU Member State, namely Portugal. Some of the issues identified are being tackled by the authors in European Commission projects on Targeted Support to S3 Implementation in Portugal, including the role played by higher education institutions.