Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into a Region’s Smart Specialisation Strategy through Corporate Responsibility

Abstract

The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the accompanying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been widely adopted in EU policies, such as the European Green Deal, and Member States, highlight the need for responsible and sustainable investments by the business sector. The present paper argues that in the EU framework where development policies are sufficiently decentralised at the level of Regions, the materialization of “shared value” from business towards the achievement of SDGs can be accomplished via close cooperation between regional governance authorities and the business sector itself, in the spirit of SDG 17 (“Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development”). In this framework, EU Regions shall support the identification of regional industries and/or market segments that guarantee innovation potentials and regional comparative advantages. This entrepreneurial discovery process, in the context of Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies, shall be followed by private investments, exploiting the relevant business opportunities and creating “shared value” towards the achievement of SDGs.