Abstract
AbstractThis paper demonstrates how the Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) can be used to optimize local entrepreneurial discovery processes, in a manner which can support smart specialization strategies (S3). While S3 industry prioritization is based on the identification of local strengths, regional improvement can be achieved by improving the weakest features of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. REDI based suggestions are place‐based and offer rationale for tailor‐made regional policy interventions. We found that without optimizing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the industry specialization alone may not be successful because of the inability of the ecosystem to nurture high growth ventures.
Highlights
Over the last decade, the research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (S3 for short) agenda has emerged in the EU arena as a policy-prioritization framework which seeks to position R&D and innovation-related policies so that they are consistent with the capabilities, strengths and potential of each region.1 Starting from 2014 European Union member states and regions had to create their own S3 plans and these were to be implementation during the 2014–2020 programming period (Capello & Kroll, 2016; McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2014)
While S3 industry prioritization is based on the identification of local strengths, regional improvement can be achieved by improving the weakest features of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem
We argue that the Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) are ideally suited to play such a role
Summary
The research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (S3 for short) agenda has emerged in the EU arena as a policy-prioritization framework which seeks to position R&D and innovation-related policies so that they are consistent with the capabilities, strengths and potential of each region. Starting from 2014 European Union member states and regions had to create their own S3 plans and these were to be implementation during the 2014–2020 programming period (Capello & Kroll, 2016; McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2014). The theoretical principles of smart specialization strategies along with its implementation logic within EU Cohesion Policy are all based on the understanding that knowledge-driven growth is a systemic phenomenon in which there are different drivers and inhibitors at the regional level. These drivers and inhibitors include skills and abilities, market conditions, institutional and governance issues, entrepreneurial aspirations and business culture, and agglomeration factors, among many others (Foray, 2015; McCann & Ortega-Argilés, 2014, 2015). Entrepreneurial search processes in different places are likely to be characterized by different sets of drivers and inhibitors but by different combinations and arrangements of these different drivers and inhibitors (Gianelle, Guzzo, & Mieszkowski, 2019; Iacobucci, 2014; Kroll, 2015; Magro & Wilson, 2019)
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