Smart specialisation, innovation policy and regional innovation systems: what about new path development in less innovative regions?

Abstract

The paper takes smart specialisation strategies as the point of departure and frame of reference for the discussion of innovation policies and regional innovation systems. It aims to demonstrate that the regional innovation systems approach, representing a dynamic perspective on innovation and learning in the promotion of international competitiveness and economic growth, is an instrumental policy tool for the design and implementation of smart specialisation strategies. Moreover, the paper discusses different types of new path development, especially emphasising development paths that represent transformative activities in the form of path diversification based on unrelated knowledge combinations and new path creation, and how such path development can be achieved. The paper argues that such new path development, implying increased complexity of technology and knowhow but low relatedness, does not constitute a “casino strategy” as argued by Balland et al. (Balland, P.-A., et al. 2017. “Smart Specialisation in the EU: Relatedness, Knowledge Complexity and Regional Diversification.” Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, Utrecht University.), but a transformative activity or long jumps with the potential of “generating new options for subsequent structural transformation” (Hidalgo, C. A., B. Klinger, A.-L. Barabási, and R. Hausmann. 2007. “The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations.” Science 317: 482–487). As such these radical forms of new path development should be in the scope of policy makers even if they represent “high risk/high benefit” alternatives. The analytical framework is applied on a moderate innovative, Eastern European region (Mazovia) of the EU.

Keywords:

• smart specialisation
• innovation policy
• less innovative regions
• path development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 S3 refers to smart specialisation policies while RIS3 represents the strategies to implement the policies.

2 This section builds on Grillitsch et al. (2017).

3 The first quote was made by M. Mazzucato in her talk at the opening of her new research centre at UCL, The Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose’ in London on October 12th 2017, and the second quote by D. Foray in his key note at the Regional Innovation Policy conference in Santiago de Compostela on October 27th 2017.

4 An example of such dead-ends would be industries reaching a stage of ’path exhaustion’.

5 The empirical part on the Mazovia region is based on work undertaken during an OECD mission to the region in January 2018.

6 While the Warsaw agglomeration is about 150% of the EU average, the surrounding peripheral parts of the Mazovia region is only 70%.