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Smart specialisation : from academic idea to political instrument. Dominique Foray Regions for Economic Change 23-24 June, 2011 – Brussels. The simple idea was in the air! Regions cannot do everything in STI so they need to focus on certain domains
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Smart specialisation : from academic idea to political instrument Dominique Foray Regions for Economic Change 23-24 June, 2011 – Brussels Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
The simple idea was in the air! • Regions cannot do everything in STI so they need to focus on certain domains • They need to focusby developing distinctive and original areas of specialisation (not by imitating each other) Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
D.Foray, P.A. David and B.Hall Smart Specialisation: the Concept http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/publication_en.cfm
However the simple ideaimplies a verycomplexprocess in practice • Discovering the right domains of future specialisations • Fixing the many coordination failures • Will itwork in practice? Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Publicité en 1910 Lunettes Léon Jeantet Lunettes Léon Jeantet
Publicité en 1910 Lunettes Léon Jeantet Lunettes Léon Jeantet Entrepreneurial discovery Imitative entry Policy Structural evolution
The centrality of entrepreneurial discovery • An essential principle • The role of entrepreneurial knowledge • Making a clear cut distinction between smart specialisation and the older policies Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
At the regional government, we search and select our smart specialisations Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
At the regional government, we search and select our smart specialisations NO! Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Imitative entry/collective emulation • Imitative entry is desirable to generate agglomeration externalities (clusters) • Imperfect appropriation raises a well recognized and difficult policy problems Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Structural evolutions • Transition • Modernisation • Diversification • Radical foundation Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Policy Transition Modernisation Diversification Foundation Discovery Structural evolution Imitative entry Agglomeration externalities What are the structural conditions and policies which will increase the likelihood of such event? Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Inside the policy process • Centrality of entrepreneurial discovery ….should not result in narrowing the scope of policy intervention • What is top down, what is bottom up? • Policy programs fostering smart specialisation need to be more sophisticated than thinking within the confines of this dichotomy will allow • They call for an iterative process involving three main steps
Inside the policy process – 3 phases • Support and possiblychannels entrepreneurial discoveries in certain directions • Monitor and assess the progress of the experiments..
Occupy the rich parts of the forest where it is easier to jump to other trees Source: Hausman and Klinger, 2007 Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Inside the policy process – 3 phases • Support and possiblychannels entrepreneurial discoveries • Monitor and assess the progress..and therebydisseminate and guide the formation of a sharedstrategic vision • Identify and address coordination failures
Step1 -Proactive policy towards an economy rich in entrepreneurial discoveries Step 2 - Observation and assessment Strategic vision Step 3 - Coordination Region 1 Region 2 Not all regions need to go through the three steps Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Message : A specialisation strategy is smart in two senses • This is about knowledgeresources and regionsneed to seek not only the concentration of resources but also to do it in an orginal and rather unique area of knowledge expertise • The policyprocessiscomplex and follows an interativelogic Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Message:What smart specialisation is not • It is not the samething as a cluster policy • It is not only for the mostadvancedregions • It is not about reducingdiversity Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI
Forthcoming: Smart specialisation From academic idea to political instrument, the surprising career of a conceptand the difficulties involved in its implementation ByDominique Foray,* Paul A. David** and Bronwyn H. Hall*** Collège du Management de la Technologie – CDM Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation – CEMI