Science, technology and innovation for economic competitiveness: the role of smart specialization in less-developed countries

Sorin M.S. Krammer

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Smart specialization (SS) is a policy concept that has gained significant momentum in Europe despite a frail theoretical background and implementation difficulties. These challenges become critical in the case of less-developed economies that often lack regional autonomy, a strong STI base, and local capabilities to identify and sustain such SS strategies. Combining elements from evolutionary economics and the export-led literature, I propose a framework that anchors the role of SS in the national innovation policy of such laggards, as a complementary avenue for improving competitiveness and growth. Moreover, to assist policy makers in lagging regions or countries, I advance a diagnostic tool to identify potential areas for SS, and also address the systemic and the regional-sectoral bottlenecks in these domains. I exemplify the use of this tool in the case of Bulgaria by using a large battery of quantitative and qualitative indicators from publicly available data. This type of investigation may be useful for other less-developed economies to kick-start this process and identify prima facie SS candidates.

Keywords: Smart Specialization; Innovation Systems; Exports; Patents; Scientific publications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 O14 O31 O38 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-12-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:80203

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