Experiences of smart specialization strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15170/MM.2020.54.KSZ.I.07Keywords:
smart specialization strategy, regional policy, S3, regional developmentAbstract
THE AIMS OF THE PAPER
The smart specialization strategy has become an important element of the regional policy inside the European Union. At the end of the budgetary period, 2014-2020, and before the next planning period, it is important to sum up the results of the concept. Successful and less successful examples show, that the efficiency of the S3 strategy is not homogeneous over the regions, therefore the question arises, what can influence the outcome of the strategy. The aim of the paper is to introduce the S3 concept, its main practical experiences and to sum up the most important changes in the updated concept based on conclusions of previous years.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology used in the study is literature review. The smart specialization strategy, the experiences of its implementation in the regions with different development level, the most important challenges of S3 are shown based on the literature. In addition, the improved S3 concept is also introduced in the paper.
MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
Based on the literature, it can be stated, that the smart specialization strategy has been implemented in the majority of the EU regions with different results. The developed regions could satisfy the conditions of the S3 easily, but in the lagging regions the realization of the strategy was obstructed typically by insufficient capacities. Accordingly, the S3 can be considered successful in the developed regions, however it could not bring significant improvements in every instance. In case of the underdeveloped regions, the strategy was profitable only by the improvement of capabilities needed for the implementation of the concept.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The distinct regions can reach different results by S3, thus it is important to know the type of the region, the capacities and the barriers it has to face for strategy making and for determining the expected results.
Acknowledgements: This publication/research has been supported by the European Union and Hungary and co-financed by the European Social Fund through the project EFOP-3.6.2-16-2017-00017, titled "Sustainable, intelligent and inclusive regional and city models".
