Smart specialisation in economically and institutionally less favoured regions

When first devised, the Smart Specialisation (S3) agenda aimed at providing a generalisable, place-based approach to all European regions, while at the same time pointing out that a focus on critical mass would be crucial to support centres of excellence for specific domains that could help reposition Europe's economy amongst international competition. From the outset, S3 policy implementation thus entered a field of tension between leading-edge industrial and place-based cohesion policy.