Abstract
AbstractThis article seeks to undertake a critical assessment of the changing position of public science in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the countries on the periphery of European research. These countries are driven by new innovation paradigm based on entrepreneurship, which are implemented within the European Smart specialization strategy (S3). This article argues that S3 is widely implemented in the cohesion countries and, while it provides substantial resources for science, technology, and innovation, it fails to provide sustainability in the public research sector. This has direct implications for policies concerning innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. In order to prove the thesis, the article provides theoretical argumentation for emergence of a new innovation paradigm, driven by the rise of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, its incorporation into S3, and a consequent retreat of science policy in favor of entrepreneurial policy. The empirical analysis is focused on the funding trends seen in the business and public research sectors over the last decade (2008–2017), which have clearly shown that S3 has not contributed, despite expectations, to an increase in public expenditure for science. This signifies S3's neglect of public research within entrepreneurial ecosystems and challenges the ability of S3 to reduce wide disparities in research and innovation performance across the European Union. This ultimately endangers the innovation potential of the entrepreneurial ecosystem itself.
Highlights
One of the great ongoing debates in the area of science, technology, and innovation (STI) studies is the role of public science and researchbased innovation for the advancement of socio-economic progress and entrepreneurial ecosystems
The aim of this article is to undertake a critical assessment of the new innovation paradigm, embraced conceptually by the S3 and funded by the ESI Funds for countries with weak research capacities, in the hope of answering the following questions: Is there a tendency to replace science policy with entrepreneurial policy and scientific research with business innovation? Is public support for entrepreneurship and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) made at the expense of public science?
An entrepreneur has become a moderator between R&D and innovation, establishing a new innovation paradigm based on business-type innovation, open innovation, and the business capacities of individual entrepreneurs as determined by the specific country's institutional setup for entrepreneurship, which is today recognized as the EES (Acs et al, 2017; Malecki, 2018; Cavallo, Ghezzi, & Balocco, 2019; Pustovrh, Rangus, & Drnovšek, 2020; Song, 2019; Stam, 2015)
Summary
One of the great ongoing debates in the area of science, technology, and innovation (STI) studies is the role of public science and researchbased innovation for the advancement of socio-economic progress and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Rise of new layers of small and medium sized companies (SMEs) with limited capacities for research and development (R&D), in the 1980s has questioned the role of science in economic development These processes have led to the (re)discovery of individual entrepreneurship in Kirznerian terms of opportunity recognition (Roininen & Ylinenpää, 2009) and the importance of entrepreneurial capital and economy for national competitiveness, well established by a group of scholars gathered around the GEDI project (Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index; Acs, Autio, & Szerb, 2014; Audretsch, 2007; Audretsch & Thurik, 2000; Thurik, Stam, & Audretsch, 2013). An entrepreneur has become a moderator between R&D and innovation, establishing a new innovation paradigm based on business-type innovation, open innovation, and the business capacities of individual entrepreneurs as determined by the specific country's institutional setup for entrepreneurship, which is today recognized as the EES (Acs et al, 2017; Malecki, 2018; Cavallo, Ghezzi, & Balocco, 2019; Pustovrh, Rangus, & Drnovšek, 2020; Song, 2019; Stam, 2015)
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