Smart regional innovation policies - from cluster approaches to place-based policies

The concept of smart specialisation (SmSp) has attracted widespread attention in recent years in the European policy arena. This paper examines the SmSp concept and its characteristics in the context of Finnish regional innovation policy, comparing it with the centre of expertise program (CEP), a Finnish regional innovation initiative, to assess its novelty value. The findings indicate several similarities between the premises of the two approaches; the main differences lie in the respective regional strategy formation processes, and in the comprehensiveness of SmSp and CEP from a regional perspective. These results can be of use in planning future innovation policies and applying the SmSp approach in regions across Europe.