Complementary Inter-Regional Linkages and Smart Specialization: an Empirical Study on European Regions

Pierre-Alexandre Balland and Ron Boschma ()

No 2023, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Regional capabilities are regarded a pillar of Smart Specialization Strategy (S3). There is yet little focus in S3 policy on the role of inter-regional linkages. Our study on 292 NUTS2 regions in Europe finds that inter-regional linkages have a positive effect on the probability of regions to diversify, especially in peripheral regions. What matters is not being connected to other regions per se but being connected to regions that provide complementary capabilities. Finally, we propose a new indicator that enables regions to identify other regions as strategic partners in their S3 policy, depending on the presence of complementary capabilities in other regions.

Keywords: Smart Specialization; relatedness; inter-regional linkages; regional diversification; complementary capabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O25 O38 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-04, Revised 2020-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-sbm, nep-tid and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Journal Article: Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:2023

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