Regional Studies

Trippl, Michaela; Zukauskaite, Elena; Healy, Adrian

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1582763pmid: N/A

This paper examines the ways by which organizational and institutional features of regional innovation systems shape smart specialization practices in less-developed, intermediate and advanced regions. Drawing on research from 15 European regions, it shows that the implantation of smart specialization creates challenges in all three types of regions. At the same time, there is evidence that smart specialization supports policy-learning and system-building efforts in less-developed regions and facilitates policy reorientation and system transformation in more advanced regions.

Crescenzi, Riccardo; de Blasio, Guido; Giua, Mara

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2018.1502422pmid: N/A

This paper evaluates a programme of subsidies for collaborative industrial research (co-)funded by the European Union’s Cohesion Policy in Italy mobilizing over €1 billion. In the 2007–13 funding cycle, the programme was a precursor to some of the key features of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) programmes, offering evidence-based insights into potential challenges of the practical application of the S3 approach. The programme was unsuccessful in boosting investments, value added or employment of beneficiary firms. The collaborative dimension of the projects added limited value and a more generous funding level would not have improved effectiveness. However, positive impacts emerged in low-tech sectors.

Montresor, Sandro; Quatraro, Francesco

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1648784pmid: N/A

This paper investigates the green diversification of regional technologies and its consistency with the Smart Specialisation logic of related diversification. It also analyses the role that key enabling technologies (KETs), as a key pillar of Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3), have in green branching. Working on a patent-based panel (1981–2013) of 240 European regions, it is found that the relatedness to pre-existing knowledge makes a new green-tech specialization more probable. This holds true for the relatedness to both green and non-green pre-existing knowledge, but to a greater extent for the latter. Thus, the ‘hybridization’ of non-environmental technologies seems to require lower cognitive proximity than ‘pure’ green branching. Regional KETs also facilitate the transition towards sustainable technologies and negatively moderate the green impact of the relatedness to pre-existing technologies, both green and non-green. The results confirm that Smart Specialisation policies and the support to KETs could also help regions move towards environmental sustainability.

Dosso, Mafini; Lebert, Didier

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1619923pmid: N/A

This study examines the structural and geographical patterns of knowledge flows in order to investigate the centrality of regions. It exploits patent citations and combines social networks analysis and graphs theory to assess the importance of regions as places for knowledge sourcing and creation from the perspective of firms. It offers a novel applied approach to help regions position themselves in a technological space and integrate micro-economic insights into the design of strategies for Smart Specialisation. The analysis includes more than 400 worldwide regions and the patent applications of 1000 research and development-leading firms at the European Patent Office.

Gianelle, Carlo; Guzzo, Fabrizio; Mieszkowski, Krzysztof

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1607970pmid: N/A

This paper investigates how and to what extent the Smart Specialisation approach to innovation policy is currently being translated into strategic decisions and policy interventions in Europe. It defines three complementary conditions that operationalize the intervention logic of Smart Specialisation and tests them empirically. The results reveal that Smart Specialisation is being partially implemented. There are in fact significant indications that regions and countries have put in place mechanisms that may circumvent the logic of selective intervention. Implications for policy evaluation are discussed.

Michalek, Jerzy; Ciaian, Pavel; Di Marcantonio, Federica

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1708306pmid: N/A

The paper illustrates the application of the regional quasi-experimental estimation approach to estimate impacts of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) on the performance of the food processing sector in Poland. It brings several advantages compared with estimations based on firm data by capturing the RDP effects on non-supported firms and measures targeting overall development of rural areas; it provides a more accurate aggregate regional policy impacts; and it partially addresses the bias caused by general equilibrium effects. The application of the approach to Polish regional data shows that the RDP impacts structural change and employment in the food processing sector in Poland.

Doerr, Luisa; Dorn, Florian; Gaebler, Stefanie; Potrafke, Niklas

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2020.1714022pmid: N/A

The paper examines how new airport infrastructure influences regional tourism. Identification is based on the conversion of a military airbase into a regional commercial airport in the German state of Bavaria. The new airport opened in 2007 and promotes travelling to the touristic region of Allgäu in the Bavarian Alps. A synthetic control approach is used to show that the new commercial airport increased tourism in the Allgäu region over the period 2008–16. The positive effect is especially pronounced in the county in which the airport is located. The results suggest that new transportation infrastructure promotes regional economic development.

Teichert, Christian; Niebuhr, Annekatrin; Otto, Anne; Rossen, Anja

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2020.1716965pmid: N/A

Administrative social security records and event history analysis are used to investigate the significance of previous work experience for the migration decision of German university graduates. The regression results suggest that work experience gained previously and while studying in the university region reduces the likelihood of graduates out-migrating, while extra-regional work activity enhances the probability of labour market entry outside the region of study. The size of the effect depends on the type of work experience. The findings point to the importance of knowledge about local labour markets and social networks for graduates’ migration decision at the start of their career.