How smart is England’s approach to smart specialization? A policy paper

ABSTRACT

A previous paper on RIS3 assessed its potential to influence growth strategies and their delivery. It held that significant further investment work was needed in tools and techniques, data and intelligence, and innovation in leadership capacity and capabilities. It further asserted that such investment was needed to be part of a commitment to a long-run learning and evaluation process. This paper considers synergies and dissonances between these national approaches to development in England. In particular, it explores how far RIS represents a step change from previous approaches to innovation-led growth. Alternatively, is it more accurately an incremental facelift and rebranding of previous orthodoxies? Does it add value to or detract from national policy for England? What roles might the approach play in the so-called ‘devolution revolution’? Can the (small scale, ‘light touch’) Advisory Hub approach support and promote those roles? What, if anything, might the England experience have for other nations and regions of Europe?

KEYWORDS:

• Smart specialization
• England

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Common Provisions Regulations No 1303/2013, December 2013.

2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/european-structural-and-investment-funds-uk-partnership-agreement.

3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-specialisation-in-england.

4. The national Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth (2011) was applicable to all parts of the UK, not just England.

5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk.

6. https://www.catapult.org.uk/.

7. https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/using-industrial-strategy-to-help-the-uk-economy-and-business-compete-and-grow.

8. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-uk-sector-analysis.

9. Guide to City Deals wave 1, Cabinet Office, July 2012.

10. Fixing the foundations: creating a more prosperous nation, Treasury, July 2015.

11. Science and innovation audits: call and guidance, DBIS, November 2015.

12. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-of-eu-structural-and-investment-fund-strategies-preliminary-guidance-to-local-enterprise-partnerships.

13. http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/peer-review-workshop-for-national-ris3-riga-25-26-february.

14. A national / local partnership advisory committee acting as the shadow Programme Monitoring Committee.

15. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-specialisation-in-england.

16. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249633/bis-13-1048-independent-review-universities-and-growth.pdf.

17. This approach is described in greater detail in the RIS3 Guide (May 2012), together with accompanying updates and related documentation.

18. http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/regions/UKD3/tags/UKD3.

19. http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/UniversityInvolvementESIF2014-20.aspx.

20. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-enterprise-partnerships-evidence-on-local-innovation-strengths.