Searching through the Haystack:The Relatedness and Complexity of Priorities in Smart Specialization Strategies

IF 7.2 1区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Economic Geography Pub Date : 2021-09-20 DOI:10.1080/00130095.2021.1967739

Jason Deegan, Tom Broekel, R. D. Fitjar

{"title":"Searching through the Haystack:The Relatedness and Complexity of Priorities in Smart Specialization Strategies","authors":"Jason Deegan, Tom Broekel, R. D. Fitjar","doi":"10.1080/00130095.2021.1967739","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"abstract This article examines which economic domains regional policy makers aim to develop in regional innovation strategies, focusing in particular on the complexity of those economic domains and their relatedness to other economic domains in the region. We build on the economic geography literature that advises policy makers to target related and complex economic domains, and assess the extent to which regions actually do this. The article draws on data from the smart specialization strategies of 128 NUTS-2 regions across Europe. While regions are more likely to select complex economic domains related to their current economic domain portfolio, complexity and relatedness figure independently, rather than in combination, in choosing priorities. We also find that regions in the same country tend to select the same priorities, contrary to the idea of a division of labor across regions that smart specialization implies. Overall, these findings suggest that smart specialization may be considerably less place based in practice than it is in theory. There is a need to develop better tools to inform regions’ priority choices, given the importance of priority selection in smart specialization strategies and regional innovation policy more broadly.","PeriodicalId":48225,"journal":{"name":"Economic Geography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"18","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Economic Geography","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2021.1967739","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 18

Abstract

abstract This article examines which economic domains regional policy makers aim to develop in regional innovation strategies, focusing in particular on the complexity of those economic domains and their relatedness to other economic domains in the region. We build on the economic geography literature that advises policy makers to target related and complex economic domains, and assess the extent to which regions actually do this. The article draws on data from the smart specialization strategies of 128 NUTS-2 regions across Europe. While regions are more likely to select complex economic domains related to their current economic domain portfolio, complexity and relatedness figure independently, rather than in combination, in choosing priorities. We also find that regions in the same country tend to select the same priorities, contrary to the idea of a division of labor across regions that smart specialization implies. Overall, these findings suggest that smart specialization may be considerably less place based in practice than it is in theory. There is a need to develop better tools to inform regions’ priority choices, given the importance of priority selection in smart specialization strategies and regional innovation policy more broadly.

查看原文本刊更多论文

大海为家:智能专业化策略中优先级的相关性和复杂性

本文考察了区域政策制定者在区域创新战略中旨在发展哪些经济领域，特别关注这些经济领域的复杂性及其与该区域其他经济领域的相关性。我们建立在经济地理学文献的基础上，该文献建议政策制定者瞄准相关和复杂的经济领域，并评估各地区实际做到这一点的程度。这篇文章引用了来自欧洲128个NUTS-2地区的智能专业化战略的数据。虽然各地区更有可能选择与其当前经济领域组合相关的复杂经济领域，但在选择优先事项时，复杂性和相关性是独立的，而不是组合的。我们还发现，同一个国家的地区往往选择相同的优先事项，这与智能专业化所暗示的跨地区分工的想法相反。总的来说，这些发现表明，聪明的专业化在实践中可能比在理论上少得多。鉴于优先选择在更广泛的智能专业化战略和区域创新政策中的重要性，有必要开发更好的工具来为各区域的优先选择提供信息。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Economic Geography Multiple-

CiteScore

9.70

自引率

2.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Economic Geography is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing original research that advances the field of economic geography. Their goal is to publish high-quality studies that are both theoretically robust and grounded in empirical evidence, contributing to our understanding of the geographic factors and consequences of economic processes. It welcome submissions on a wide range of topics that provide primary evidence for significant theoretical interventions, offering key insights into important economic, social, development, and environmental issues. To ensure the highest quality publications, all submissions undergo a rigorous peer-review process with at least three external referees and an editor. Economic Geography has been owned by Clark University since 1925 and plays a central role in supporting the global activities of the field, providing publications and other forms of scholarly support. The journal is published five times a year in January, March, June, August, and November.