The European Union's smart specialisation launch and brand slogan management

Abstract

This article studies the roots and features of smart specialisation in keeping with the perspectives of brand slogan management. By using the smart specialisation concept in its documents, plans, and regional fieldwork, the European Union (EU) is attempting to be perceived as a growth-efficient organisation. This analysis illustrated that smart specialisation is not reserved for the use of the EU only. Rather, the organisation for economic cooperation and development, World Bank, and international monetary fund have also, albeit to a lesser degree, used the same concept, thereby demonstrating the power of smart specialisation as a slogan. Smart specialisation seems to be the slogan at the EU level; however, several regions in the EU have followed the principles of the smart specialisation process and have transformed the slogan into more powerful regional brands. Although it is possible to interpret smart specialisation as a slogan, it is also a process in which the EU is the rule maker and gatekeeper for funding innovations and investments in the region.