Smart Specialisation, seizing new industrial opportunities

Antonio Vezzani, Marco Baccan (), Alina Candu (), Alessio Castelli (), Mafini Dosso and Petros Gkotsis
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Marco Baccan: Finlombarda S.p.A. (Italy)
Alina Candu: Finlombarda S.p.A. (Italy)
Alessio Castelli: Finlombarda S.p.A. (Italy)

No JRC108247, JRC Research Reports from Joint Research Centre

Abstract: This study offers a novel analytical approach to inform the regional search for new industrial opportunities, as promoted by smart specialisation in the EU Cohesion policy context. The analysis departs from the challenges of practicing smart specialisation and its entrepreneurial discovery process in a dynamic perspective. It argues that the adoption of a dynamic approach to identify new opportunities implies mapping regional business and innovation assets as well as, assessing their position within the global technological and industrial landscape. The study brings a case study of Lombardy region, spurring the S3 Lab initiative (in collaboration with Baden-Württemberg, Catalonia and Lapland), together with a comparative analysis of its technological profile. The empirical study combines patent data from OECD REGPAT and territorial proprietary micro-data from Lombardy region on firm creation in emerging industries (EI) – new industrial sectors or existing sectors evolving into new industries (European Cluster Observatory). These industries represent a priority area for Lombardy's innovation-led development strategy. The initial observations confirm the importance of such industries in the region; they represent more than one-third of employment, almost a half of the regional value-added and feature together the majority of start-ups, suggesting the relevance of the regional strategic development choices. Also, in terms of productive advantages, Lombardy ranks high in some key EI. The mapping of technological competences through patent indicators, e.g. specialisation, diversification and ability to specialise in fast-growing and niche fields gives relevant insights on the technological potential of the region, providing further guidance for better targeted interventions.

Keywords: smart specialisation; emerging industries; regional search; technological specialisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O25 O33 O38 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2017-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-sbm and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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