Searching through the Haystack

The Relatedness and Complexity of Priorities in Smart Specialization Strategies

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4042347
AutoresJohn Deegan (0000-0001-9190-8142, Department of Innovation, Management and Marketing Centre for Innovation Research UiS Business School University of Stavanger N-4036 Stavanger Norway), Tom Broekel (0000-0003-4516-4626, Department of Innovation, Management and Marketing Centre for Innovation Research UiS Business School University of Stavanger N-4036 Stavanger Norway), Rune Dahl Fitjar (0000-0001-5333-2701, Department of Innovation, Management and Marketing Centre for Innovation Research UiS Business School University of Stavanger N-4036 Stavanger Norway)
Ano2021
Volume97
Fascículo5
Páginas497-520
Data de publicação2021-10-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEconomic Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0013-0095 • E-ISSN: 1944-8287
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00130095.2021.1967739
OpenAlexW3199217115
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas22
Referências citadas46

This article examines which economic domains regional policy makers aim to develop in regional innovation strategies, focusing in particular on the complexity of those economic domains and their relatedness to other economic domains in the region. We build on the economic geography literature that advises policy makers to target related and complex economic domains, and assess the extent to which regions actually do this. The article draws on data from the smart specialization strategies of 128 NUTS-2 regions across Europe. While regions are more likely to select complex economic domains related to their current economic domain portfolio, complexity and relatedness figure independently, rather than in combination, in choosing priorities. We also find that regions in the same country tend to select the same priorities, contrary to the idea of a division of labor across regions that smart specialization implies. Overall, these findings suggest that smart specialization may be considerably less place based in practice than it is in theory. There is a need to develop better tools to inform regions’ priority choices, given the importance of priority selection in smart specialization strategies and regional innovation policy more broadly

Division of labour · Economic geography · Economics · Geography · Haystack · Portfolio · Regional science · Computer Science · Regional Development and Policy · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Regional resilience and development