Abstract
Abstract This article develops a model for a regional responsible research and innovation (RRI) policy, integrating existing European Union policies on RRI, and on research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3). RRI and RIS3 are central concepts in the EU’s innovation policy agenda, but there are tensions between the two approaches. The place-based approach inherent in RIS3 is missing from RRI, which has a fuzzy concept of geographical scale and is vulnerable to mismatches between the scale of innovations and of the associated governance networks involved in the innovation process. Meanwhile, the multitude of visions, values and stakeholder perceptions embodied in the RRI concept is countered by the more optimistic and unitary imagining of a regional future in RIS3. We highlight that Europe’s innovation challenges can only be resolved by leveraging the strengths of both types of innovation policy.
Highlights
Innovation has increasingly become a core ambition of both research and regional development policy (Landabaso 1997; Soete 2007) in Europe, resulting in the development of innovation policies with different genealogies
This article develops a model for a regional responsible research and innovation (RRI) policy, integrating existing European Union policies on RRI, and on research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3)
The place-based approach inherent in RIS3 is missing from RRI, which has a fuzzy concept of geographical scale and is vulnerable to mismatches between the scale of innovations and of the associated governance networks involved in the innovation process
Summary
Innovation has increasingly become a core ambition of both research and regional development policy (Landabaso 1997; Soete 2007) in Europe, resulting in the development of innovation policies with different genealogies. RIS3 strategies must conform to the overarching Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, there is clearly a prioritisation of its economic aspects, mainly building regional economic strengths and potential competitive advantage This raises the possibility of an unproductive fissure emerging in European innovation policy at a time when—according to the Europe 2020 agenda—innovation should be at the heart of ensuring public policy improves citizen welfare. This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of RRI and RIS3 policy, highlighting how the core idea in each approach remains a lacuna in the other It discusses what an integrated framework incorporating key elements of each—a responsible regional research and innovation policy—would look like. This article makes an original contribution to the literature by introducing a framework that may assist policymakers in designing and implementing RIS3 strategies that promote smart (i.e. competitive) and inclusive and sustainable regional economic development
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