Foreign practices of smart specialisation and possibilities of its implementation in Ukraine

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the issues of implementation of smart specialisation concept into the regional development policy of Ukraine. The relevance of the issue is related to the need of harmonization of the regional and innovation policies of Ukraine with the EU standards, on the one hand, and to forced incorporation of smart specialisation concept into the regional development strategies, on the other hand. The experience of the EU regions reveals certain peculiarities of the implementation of smart specialisation in regions with low institutional capacity, and therefore, their experience for Ukraine is the most useful. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to identify specific features of the implementation of smart specialisation in countries and regions with low institutional capacity and to provide recommendations for its implementation in Ukraine. Thus, the paper studies prerequisites for the emergence of smart specialisation in the EU, which is related to shortcomings in development and implementation of regional innovation strategies that did not sufficiently considered needs of the regions, or were focused on traditional sectors of industry. The peculiarities of the implementation of smart specialisation in countries/regions with low institutional capacity are also identified. They are related to strong focus of strategies on building links between innovation development actors, but insufficient attention was paid to the final stages of the innovation process. It is shown that such countries and regions need to make greater efforts in the implementation of smart specialisation through a substantial modification of the existing processes or initiating new processes in the domains of innovation and regional development policy making. Since the choice of policy tools is a serious problem for regions and countries with low institutional capacity, the paper provides a number of recommendations from European experts on this issue. In particular, it concerns the use of mini-mixes aimed at coping with a specific challenge or at developing a certain smart priority through the synergy / complex actions of various types of policy instruments (regulation, fiscal incentives, grants, human development and mobility). Considering the experience gained in the EU regions, some policy recommendations on the implementation of smart specialisation concept in Ukraine were developed. The recommendations are aimed at minimizing the risk of distortion of the smart specialisation concept and at the development of more effective action plans, in particular through broader involvement of European experts in the process of the implementation of smart specialisation in Ukraine on national and regional levels.