Abstract
The engagement of a wide range of stakeholders has become a key element in regional planning, particularly in the development of regional research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (RIS3) in Europe. The quadruple helix model from the literature on regional innovation systems has been raised on the forefront of RIS3. This comes in spite of the fact that the literature surrounding the quadruple helix model (i.e., the collaboration among the university, industry, government, and civil society) is still in its infancy compared to the well-established triple helix model. Our paper addresses this gap and explores how regional authorities can facilitate the participation of the fourth helix (civil society) and ensure democracy of the participatory policy process. We adopted a grounded theory approach and collected primary data through interviews with regional authorities in Finland. Based on 28 interviews from all 18 Finnish mainland regions, we identified three mechanisms for facilitating the participation of civil society: information exchange, feedback, and co-creation. For policy-makers, our paper provides recommendations on how to overcome impediments in the engagement of civil society in regional planning.
Highlights
This paper addresses the topic of participatory policy design in the context of regional planning
This comes in spite of the fact that the literature surrounding the quadruple helix model is still in its infancy compared to the well-established triple helix model
This was done through paying attention to the re sponses of the interviewees in the following interview questions: (a) How were stakeholders informed about the opportunity to participate in RIS3? (b) Did everyone willing to participate have the possibility to participate in regional planning work and, if so, how? we inves tigated whether there were any conflicts regarding the selection of regional priorities through the following questions in our interviews: (a) Did you have challenges in collaboration and common vision formula tion when stakeholders had conflicting agendas? (b) If yes, how did you cope with them? We provided citations from interviews so as to further clarify and solidify the possible challenges in conflict resolution and selecting RIS3 priorities in regional planning
Summary
This paper addresses the topic of participatory policy design in the context of regional planning. The previous papers indicating the lack of civil society actors in RIS3 are all large-scale surveys They cannot provide information on how regions facilitate the involvement of civil society actors for quadruple helix collaboration; they fail to examine the related implications in terms of democracy. Based on the research gap above, the objective and contribution of our paper lies in improving the current understanding of the mecha nisms that facilitate the implementation of the quadruple helix mod el—namely, the participation of the civil society—and how to avoid possible impediments and negative consequences in the participatory policy process. We present and discuss the key findings of our research as well as provide recommen dations for regional authorities to facilitate the participation of civil society in regional planning and RIS3 in specific
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