This report is the summary of the “Workshop on State Aid Map in Energy Sector” organised by the S3PEnergy with the REGIO Communities of Practitioners, as a practical contribution in assisting professionals from national and/or regional authorities on State aid issues in the sector of Energy.
The Portuguese region of Alentejo was one of the first to explore how support for the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) can go digital during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy insight provides information on the key findings of the online events that gathered 47 stakeholders, to discuss challenges, opportunities and needs of the region in the field of sustainable bioeconomy.
In October 2020, Economies has published an article authored by Giovanni Mandras and Simone Salotti featuring an Input-Output analysis on the Western Balkans related to Smart Specialisation.
Recovering from the effects of the pandemic and future-proofing our economies and societies as foreseen in the European Green Deal require a degree of mass mobilisation that is unprecedented in modern times. How can a territory prepare in times of pervasive change? How can threats turn into opportunities? How can policy support industrial change that combines material prosperity, environmental sustainability and social cohesion? Adequate preparation hinges crucially on non-readily available evidence. A newly published JRC report entitled "Projecting Opportunities for INdustrial Transitions (POINT). Concepts, rationales and methodological guidelines for territorial reviews of industrial transition" offers a framework to collect evidence about affected production and consumption systems and chart profitable pathways for their transformation. The report is a key output of the JRC Working Group on Understanding and Managing Industrial Transitions and draws from experience gathered during the development of the pilot reviews of industrial transition in Andalusia, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania. It offers guidance to analysts and policy makers interested in conducting similar studies in their territories.
Based on the results of recent surveys, conducted between April and May 2020, this report quantifies the potential changes in tourist behaviour during the Summer and Autumn of 2020, as consequences of travel and mobility limitations, psychological and economic factors. Therefore, three potential scenarios for the coming months (from June to December 2020) in relation to the volume to tourist arrivals are described, depending on the evolution and spread of the virus. Subsequently, considering the tourist-employment relationship, the report displays an estimation for the number of jobs at risk in EU in 2020, as a result of the slowdown of tourism activities. The reports concludes by providing policy recommendations for the short, medium and long-term.
This report assesses the implementation of Smart Specialisation in Portugal, comparing the situation today in 2020 with 2013. It highlights a number of problems in the governance of S3 implementation and the positive changes that have occurred, and present some recommendations for the post-2020 period.
The RHOMOLO model has been used to analyse the potential economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the NUTS 2 regions of the EU.
This technical report presents the findings of the case study carried out in Lithuania on the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the design and implementation of their Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3). It is one of the case studies undertaken in the project Higher Education for Smart Specialisation (HESS), an initiative of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. The research shows that the S3 in Lithuania has constituted an important framework to coordinate research and innovation policies and investments with a significant improvement from past experiences, creating a space for a participatory process of innovation stakeholders. The higher education institutions are actively participating in the S3 process, with a good correlation of the S3 selected priority areas and the higher education research capacities, but with no significant changes in the internal decision-making process.
The study focuses on two Greek regions - Central Macedonia and Western Greece - as well as the national body responsible for the monitoring of national RIS3 (the General Secretariat for Research and Technology). It examines their RIS3 monitoring systems to understand what is in place and what is missing with the purpose of identifying data gaps and other areas for improvement. An appropriate methodology was developed to collect evidence directly from the authorities, and evaluate their respective monitoring systems, aiming at the same time to provide direct advice and support. Evidence was gathered from April to October 2019 and reflects the development of RIS3 monitoring systems up to that time.
This paper examines how European regions can jointly pilot experimental policy support measures in precise S3 niches prior to their full-scale roll-out in partner regions. By tackling new and often ambitious areas together, participating regions are able to test new policy support instruments while sharing the overall risk and uncertainty associated with such experiments. Joint interregional initiatives can allow participating regions to mitigate risks of failure through a collective use of limited resources while identifying potential improvements or shortcomings. By working together, regions can clarify their vision and ambitions to occupy specific parts of the industry value chain. Joint pilot activities can also help regions get a better picture of how strong their positions are and whether specific clusters of global value chain activities in their partner regions are similar or complementary to their own activities. Furthermore, participating regions continue engaging with the industry while anticipating the likely evolution of the industry globally.
This paper provides a reflection regarding the fourth generation of regional innovation strategies under EU cohesion policy, and suggest a move towards a more heterogeneous paradigm that draws conclusions from the procedural progress made during the smart specialization era so far but allows for more situated experimentation within regions.
With resources becoming scarce, global economic and social stability is threatened, so it is important to address the risks and opportunities of mega-trends including climate change. Given the nature and urgency of the problem, when addressing grand challenges related to environmental change, policies and related actions also refer to challenges of leadership in terms of capabilities, legitimacy and credibility. In some cases, where cities are on the front line of sustainable development efforts, the impact of leadership on the motivation and commitment of stakeholders in specific actions can provide an insight into how leadership contributes to transform places as well as organizations and capabilities.
This study aims at exploring and discussing learning opportunities stemming from the development and implementation of place-based Smart Specialisation, with a focus on the Visegrád Group (V4) countries. The Visegrád Group, Visegrád Four, or V4, is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another along with furthering their integration in the EU. The study considers and reflects upon the ways in which public authorities in V4 countries have benefited from Smart Specialisation development and implementation.
The S3 Platform has just published its Methodological Manual for Developing Thematic Interregional Partnerships for Smart Specialisation. The manual documents a non-linear and dynamic process with elements that are to be applied and adjusted to the objectives and needs of each partnership. It has been prepared with the aim of assisting public authorities responsible for designing and delivering interregional investment projects in the S3 context and for ensuring that these joint projects attract sufficient private sector interest to ensure their sustainability.
This Technical Report investigates the resilience of EU regions under three alternative recessionary shocks, each of them activating different economic adjustments and mechanisms.
This Technical Report contains a macroeconomic impact assessment of the European cohesion policy with a focus on Polish regions.
This Technical Report argues that the estimation of wage curves and Non Accelerating Wage Rates of Unemployment (NAWRUs) at the country level suffers from spatial aggregation bias.
The paper explores how the leadership of the thematic Smart Specialisation partnerships affects the motivation and commitment within the partnership by comparing attitudes of leaders and participants and the potential for more effective operation.
This research proposes to examine the ways in which good governance and leadership contribute to the overall sustainability and viability of interregional initiatives. The paper explores how the leadership of cross-border partnerships effect the motivation and commitment within the partnership, by comparing attitudes of leaders and participants in their endeavour to optimize their activities.
This Technical Report introduces a new methodology for the ex-ante macroeconomic impact assessment of Smart Specialisation using the RHOMOLO model and the information on R&D personnel targets contained in the Operational Programmes of the EU regions.
