Following the coronavirus outbreak, the third "Conference on Smart Specialisation and Territorial Development: Connecting grand societal challenges with local goals in place-based innovation policy" is postponed to the 9-11th of December 2020 in Seville, Spain. Co-organised by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and RSA Europe, the conference will provide a comprehensive picture of the Smart Specialisation policy experience, including an evaluation of its results and an account of its recent developments both conceptually and empirically. The conference will also tackle the role of territorial policies for recovery to face the COVID-19 crisis, and provide an opportunity to discuss and compare different territorial development approaches, exploring how they engage with the European Commission's priorities for 2019-2014 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The submission of complete special session and general paper proposals should be sent through the Regional Studies Association online portal by the 17th of July 2020.

The Smart Specialisation Platform is organising an online event for the launch of the project: “Smart Specialisation Strategies for Sustainability in Latin America”. This new project is part of the "Development in Transition" programme led by DG DEVCO. It will be held on 9 December 2020 at 16:00 CET. Registration is necessary prior to the event.

On 9 December 2020, the Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) will host an online capacity-building workshop, where participants will learn how to address challenges commonly faced by S3P-Industry projects in the areas of governance of interregional investment projects and platform business models. The workshop will be hosted by two key speakers with long experience and strong expertise in these two specific areas. The session is especially dedicated to S3P-Industry project promoters interested to apply for the TAF, but also to actors coming from industry, clusters or other business entities working on interregional investment projects.

The sixth and last 2020 SMARTER webinar entitled “Sustainable Urban Development and Innovation: aligning policies for change” will be held online on 3 December 2020 from 10:30 to 11:45 CET. The webinar will address the nexus between urban development and innovation and explore the possible integration of different policy instruments and frameworks promoted at European level mainly through cohesion policy, but also the new mission-oriented approach of the EU research and innovation policy. Reflection on ongoing experiences as Sustainable Urban Development strategies supported by cohesion policy, the JPI Urban Europe research network and the co-creation process of the New Leipzig Charter will provide the opportunity to explore to what extent the EU discourse on integrated urban development can steer a different approach to innovation. Moreover, the webinar will discuss what innovation agenda shall be conceived match development to match development objectives beyond economic transformation. The registration form and final agenda will be available shortly.

The fifth SMARTER webinar entitled “Smart Specialisation: evidence, lessons, challenges and opportunities ” will be held online on 24 November 2020 from 10:30 to 11:30 CET. This webinar will explore the following main components of Smart Specialisation Strategy: governance, the entrepreneurial discovery process and monitoring and evaluation. In particular, the debate will provide an overview of the main theoretical underpinnings and developments on these components, as well as some empirical evidence from around 20 case studies. The implications for the future of Smart Specialisation Strategy in the next programming period (2021-2027) will also be discussed.

The fourth SMARTER webinar entitled “Quality of life in (European) cities: are cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable? ” will be held online on 19 November 2020 from 10:00 to 12:00 CET. Since 2004, the European Commission regularly monitors the quality of life in European cities, through a dedicated survey. This webinar will present the main findings of the 2019 edition of the survey. The webinar will also highlight The European Handbook for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Voluntary Local Reviews, developed by the JRC. This tool offers policy makers, researchers and practitioners a framework to monitor the progress towards the achievement of the SDGs at the urban level. Moving to a more global level, the OECD will present the main findings of their recent work on well-being in cities in the world.

The third SMARTER webinar entitled “Smart Specialisation for Sustainable Development Goals ” will be held online on 10th November 2020 from 10:30 to 12:30 CET. The objective of the webinar is to discuss how to design and implement smart specialisation strategies to achieve sustainable transformation and meet the objectives of the 2030 UN Agenda at national, regional and local levels.

The session "Resilience of EU innovation ecosystems" will analyse the various aspects of the impact of COVID-19 on the EU and how Smart Specialisation Strategy models have helped during the lockdown and will help further in the post-crisis transition. The session will combine interventions from JRC analysts on the "Employment effect of COVID-19 outbreak in EU27" and the "Role of Smart Specialisation practices in the post-pandemic recovery" , as well as several accounts from the Tuscany (IT) and Navarre (ES) regions, together with the 3D-Printing S3 Partnership. organised in the frame of the European week of Regions and Cities, this online session is open to all and will take place on 14 October 2020.

One of the challenges of the post-COVID era is to make sure that economic recovery and socio-economic development are sustainable and aligned with the European Green Deal and 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.During the session, three academics will present scientific work and evidence on environmental commons and climate change, sustainable food system and education. The three presentations will be followed by a discussion by four representatives from local, national and supranational authorities. This online session will be held on 14 October 2020.

The workshop’s main objective is to further increase awareness among regional / national policy makers on how DIHs can help SMEs in making the most of digital opportunities in their sector and becoming more resilient and competitive. Moreover, to present to policy makers current funding mechanisms and methodologies to help them reinforce DIHs and the uptake of digital transformation of SMEs in their regions/countries. The online session will be held on 14 October 2020.

This world café invites participants to provide input into the recently established European platforms for Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs). These platforms, funded by Erasmus+, connect providers of high quality skills and competences for a specific economic sector or societal challenge, embedded closely in regional innovation ecosystems. CoVEs are composed of vocational education and training providers as well as other parts of the ecosystem such as business associations and regional development agencies. Each of the five pilot platforms will host a table to explain the territorial dimension of their activities and seek the views and proposals of all participants. In addition to learning more about the CoVEs, the world café will also help participants to consider how skills can be integrated into their Smart Specialisation Strategies post 2020, for which the European Regional Development Fund can provide funding. This online session will be held on14 October 2020.

As part of this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities, the S3 Platform is organising a workshop on "Addressing COVID-19 challenges in the context of Smart Specialisation strategies in the Western Balkans". The event will examine how smart specialisation processes and priority areas are validated and adapted in the new COVID-19 reality, and how transnational cooperation can help overcome the difficult challenges posed by the crisis. The workshop will bring together policy-makers responsible for the development and implementation of smart specialisation strategies across the Western Balkans as well as European countries. This online event will take place on 13 October 2020.

Organized by the Regional Coordination and Development Commission of Algarve (Portugal) with the support of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), this workshop aims to share experiences, identify obstacles, and suggest solutions that help to strengthen the innovative capacity of the region in the field of “tourism sector digitalization”. The second session of this online event will be held on 8 October 2020 and will bring together a wide range of territorial actors including business persons, researchers and public managers.

The European Week of Regions and Cities will be held from 5 to 22 October 2020. Members of the Territorial Development Unit of the Joint Research Centre, including the Smart Specialisation Platform, will be presenting a wide range of topics, notably on S3 in lagging regions, Smart Specialisation for SDGs, Skills and vocational training, Digital Innovation Hubs, industrial transition, etc.

The Webinar situates Smart Specialisation Strategies in the new EU policy agenda with the European Green Deal as EUs new growth strategy. This directionality is confirmed in the recent EU recovery package, where investment and innovation-driven policy for sustainability are highlighted for Europe economic recovery. Which opportunities for local industrial strategies arise in the green and digital transitions and in the new EU policy? How can smaller countries, regions and cities in Europe design bottom-up strategies reaping the opportunities of the green and digital transition for local jobs and growth? Which investments and innovation measures are needed for this to happen? How to deal with the threats of transitions and local trade-offs? The Webinar counts on five high-level speakers with in-depth experience in innovation policy design across Europe. It will be held online on 6 October 2020.

The second SMARTER webinar entitled “Smart Specialisation Strategies for Sustainability – opportunities for economic recovery and competitiveness” will be held online on 6 October 2020 from 9:30 to 11:30 CEST. It aims at reflecting on the role of Smart Specialisation Strategies to foster the green and digital transitions.

The SMARTER 2020 Conference Webinar series on "Smart Specialisation and Territorial Development: Connecting grand societal challenges with local goals in place-based innovation policy" is co-organised by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and Regional Studies Association Europe. In line with the measures to contain the diffusion of COVID-19, the physical event will be replaced by a series of six webinars held between 15 September and 15 December 2020. Open to all interested stakeholders - practitioners, policy-makers and researchers - , they will touch upon various topics including •“Place-based responses to the COVID-19 economic crisis”, •“Smart Specialisation Strategies for Sustainability – opportunities for economic recovery and competitiveness”, •Smart Specialisation for Sustainable Development Goals", •"Smart Specialisation: evidence, lessons, challenges and opportunities”, •Urban strategies and Smart Specialisation", as well as •"Quality of life in European cities: are cities in Europe inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable?".

The first webinar of the SMARTER 2020 Conference will be held on 17 September 2020 from 10 to 12 am (CEST). It will focus on short-term responses to Covid-19 related to the governance of Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) and its sustainable dimension (S4), as well as the medium/long-term role of S3/S4 in the post-recovery period, and related policy implications.

The main theme of this year´s edition of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will be "Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”. Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture and Health together with Viktor Nedovic, Assistant Minister from Serbia will take part in the official session on "Science, technology and innovation". Serbia participates in the UN Global Pilot Programme and is supported by the JRC on S3 for SDGs. The session will be held on 10 July 2020, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (EST time)/ 16:00-17:00 (CEST time).

The S3 Platform has been taking part in a series of three virtual meetings on "STI Roadmaps for SDGs: paving the pathways for sustainable recovery and future resilience" in the post-COVID 19 recovery context. The first part took place on 22 June 2020, the second on 30 June and the third one will be a side event at the High-Level Political Forum on 7 July 2020 (08:00 – 09:00 a.m. EST/ 14:00-15:00 CEST). It is co-organized with the Government of Serbia/METD, EC – JRC, UN DESA and the Government of Japan/JST.