About the RSA Research Network on Smart Policies for Regional Innovation, Sustainability and Transitions (SPRINT)
This network focuses on the smart specialisation strategy (S3) approach as an evolving method of designing place-based innovation policy. We build on three years of cooperation through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Policies for Smart Specialisation research network, as early career scholars with considerable research experience in the investigation of the implementation of S3 policies. The objective of this RSA network is to build upon and expand our prior work; seeking to reorientate academic interest toward the future of S3, considering recent shifts in European policy towards the New Innovation Agenda, Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) and moves towards Open Discovery Processes. We focus on the transition from S3 to sustainable S3 (‘S4’); considering how the new approach aligns with other territorial policies which aim to:
- Drive sustainable economic development through ‘green’ innovation
- Tackle regional inequality
- Foster regional resilience
Our aims
Regional innovation policies are changing fast. The Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) approach, which marked a substantial shift in thinking about EU regional development from 2014 onwards, has become increasingly concerned with the broader paradigmatic transition in innovation studies towards transformative change. Such a turn sees the fostering of place-based development as going hand in hand with addressing societal challenges related to sustainability, inequality and regional resilience. The recent PRI policy approach, having somewhat built on the S3 experience, is an example of how future regional innovation policy will be increasingly expected to contribute to Europe’s foreseen green and digital transitions. In the current 2021-2027 funding framework, RIS3 is more anchored in the European Green Deal, with calls for greater alignment with the Research and Innovation Framework Programmes and large-scale funding interventions such as NextGenerationEU. This extension is particularly challenging and requires new perspectives on the role and remit of place-based innovation approaches.
Transformative innovation policy in a regional context requires substantial capacity and investment; and given the diversity of experiences in the implementation of S3 so far, the extension of the approach to encompass a sustainability ambition in the form of ‘S4’ brings additional complexities for those places already struggling to foster economic development via traditional approaches. As transitions across history have rarely been ‘just’ for all those involved, understanding the interplay between calls for an increasingly-directional angle to smart specialisation policies and how such sustainable regional innovation policies would function practically,
is crucial. Societal transitions are complex and cross-cutting, and the objective of SPRINT is therefore to focus on a less-considered relationship: that of evolving smart specialisation approach with ever-more ambition and its relationship with socio-economic issues such as migration, skills, internationalisation, inequality and the gender gap; factors which have been suggested to contribute to the underpinning of resilience in a sub-state context.
Building on our experiences from POLISS, a core ambition of this network is to develop original research on the multifaceted nature of place-based innovation policies as a tool for achieving transformative changes along issues of sustainability, inequality and regional resilience. Given the complexities of policy integration, the deployment of new research methods and approaches seems particularly important. We propose several events and workshops across 2024-2025 to strengthen the dialogue between academics and policymakers on these issues:
Research questions:
The main research questions driving our proposed network are:
(1) Can place-based regional innovation policies be effectively integrated with environmental sustainability goals, including green innovation, bioeconomy, and sustainable innovation policies?
(2) To which extent can place-based regional innovation policies contribute to addressing societal challenges such as inequality, the gender gap, and migration, and which strategies are most effective in this regard?
(3) How might regional governments develop resilience as an integral part of their regional innovation policy frameworks, and how might this contribute to their ability to cope with global value chain disruptions and economic shocks?
(4) Does S3 intersect with other major policy frameworks, and if so, how does this interaction foster or
hinder regional development?
The relevance of SPRINT is in the ongoing centrality of S3 in the current 2021-2027 European Regional Development and Cohesion Policy as an enabling condition. The approach now features two more policy objectives, related to the enhancement of sustainable growth and digitalisation, and has given rise to complementary initiatives such as the PRI. Moreover, out with the EU, the S3 framework has experienced a considerable uptake and geographic expansion across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, with governments from Australia, Chile, Canada to Norway adopting the concept. The rapid theoretical development of S3 as a policy for sustainable transition at the local level calls for more rigorous assessment of its potential for integration with other EU programmes fostering not just research and innovation, but also social cohesion, regional resilience and green transition. The EU’s efforts to strengthen S3 implementation should go hand-in-hand with an in-depth understanding of how exactly synergies can be created. This is why our proposal is particularly timely and addresses an issue which will remain on policymakers’ agenda in the foreseeable future.
On a broader level, this network aims to bridge the gap between academia and policymaking. Our goal is to provide a platform for fruitful discussions between researchers on the one hand, and practitioners from policy linked organisations on the other. Building on cooperation from POLISS, we foresee collaboration with partners from across international organisations (such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)), relevant Directorates-General of the European Commission, networks of regional governments and practitioners, as well as leading consultancies such as Technopolis. While the latter group of partners can benefit from insights into the latest scientific advances, researchers and the broader RSA community can also learn from practitioners, especially on issues related to the practical challenges of implementing innovation policy on the ground and creating synergies between different instruments. The international scope of SPRINT and the diverse background of the speakers and workshop participants will ensure a rich debate environment whence new collaborative projects may emerge.
Future events
Special session “Place-based regional innovation policies and inequality” (November 2024, RSA Winter conference, London, UK).
“Communicating research results into policy recommendations” workshop (March 2025, online).
Special session “Place-based approaches to regional development and sustainability” (May 2025, RSA Annual conference).
“Insights on future pathways to regional development” (November 2025, Vienna, Austria).
“S4+2: two years of S3 in transition” (TBD).
Past Events
Event 1 “Introduction to novel methodologies in regional innovation policies” (25 September 2024, online). Watch the recording: