Establishing the basis for RIS3 regional innovation policies: Mapping economic specialisation

According to European Commission guidelines and much early literature, the main rationale of smart specialisation activities is to provide innovation strategies for economic transformation. During the first period of its promotion, however, many strategies instead focused on research, and their monitoring on traditional science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators. Such analyses, however, do not necessarily provide any good indication for economic transformation, as in most regions outside leading clusters, scientific and economic activities remain structurally disconnected. Hence, future Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) monitoring needs to focus more on the state of local economies and their potential interfaces with science. This chapter suggests a process to achieve this.