Pre-conditions and barriers for territorial innovation through smart specialization strategies: the case of the lagging Centro region of Portugal

ABSTRACT

This research aims to understand the relevant pre-conditions and barriers for territorial innovation behind the Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) of a lagging European Union (EU) region. For that purpose, a Delphi was conducted to a panel of experts responsible for the design of the RIS3 of the Centro region of Portugal. Consensus was reached on the role of determinant factors for territorial innovation, but the operationalization and effectiveness of the RIS3 remained debatable. Policy recommendations focus on the need to increase the inclusiveness of different actors and knowledge in RIS3 and overcome some of its barriers.

KEYWORDS:

• Regional innovation policy
• Delphi
• less-developed regions
• territorial innovation
• cohesion policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Because of regions’ heterogeneity, it is impossible to capture all possible interactions between innovation policies due to the very complexity of the mix of rationales, domains and instruments at the various administrative levels

2. Tacit or implicit knowledge is the knowledge of experience, tends to be subjective and relates to a specific practical context, being difficult to transfer to others

3. Codified or explicit knowledge is the knowledge of rationality, it is objective and relates to a context free theory, being easily transmitted to others

4. NUTS refers to Nomenclature of Territorial Units (Eurostat 2020)

5. The regional policy of the EU defines a lagging region as having a GDP per capita less than 75% of the EU average

Additional information

Funding

This research was developed under the support of the Research Program ‘CeNTER Community-led Networks for Territorial Innovation’ (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000002), funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Centro (CENTRO 2020), PT2020. This work also had the support of national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., Project UIDB/05037/2020. Alexandra Polido acknowledges the financial support of FCT through CEEC Ind (CEECIND/01400/2017). GOVCOPP is funded by Portuguese national funds through FCT (UIDB/04058/2020)+(UIDP/04058/2020).