Research and innovation are key for sustainable and smart economic transformation. They are central to the EU’s main objectives such as the green and digital transitions.
This is why, in 2010, the European Commission called on national and regional governments to develop Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) for research and innovation (R&I) to encourage all European regions to discover their competitive advantage. With Smart Specialisation, research and innovation are mainstreamed, for the first time, as tools for regional development.
More than decade later, the concept has taken hold strongly in EU regional policy. Participation, prioritisation and localisation, the key pillars of S3, have been fully absorbed in regional development practice.