Smart Specialisation in sparsely populated areas: challenges, opportunities and new openings

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses to what extent Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) are applicable in sparsely populated areas (SPA) departing from the S3 concept’s theoretical background and the experiences of S3 implementation in five European SPA. It was found that S3 has induced a transition in how innovation is addressed, for example, through a more decentralized support system and more proactive approaches to natural resource management unlocking new market opportunities for bio-based innovations. Finally, the research noted a drive to find new governance mechanisms (multi-actor, multi-sectoral and multilevel), in order to sustain human capital development, the most critical resource in the SPA.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart Specialisation
• innovation policy
• regional development
• knowledge based development
• governance

JEL:

• O21
• O38
• R11
• R58

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Julien Grunfelder (Nordregio) for creating the map of the case study regions for this paper. They also there are grateful to Arturo da Rosa Pires (University of Aveiro) for useful comments that improved the manuscript.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The views expressed by Jens Sörvik and Martina Pertoldi may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission.

ORCID

Alexandre Dubois http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2650-7187

Notes

1. See https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/eip-raw-materials/en/content/european-innovation-partnership-eip-raw-materials/.