The present paper summarises the numerous “science for policy” contributions of the Scientific Committee for Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI). Combined, they highlight how many of the current European policy frameworks focusing on sustainability have an essential place-based impact which requires the active involvement of local policy makers and more broadly local stakeholders. This synthesis paper argues that the space blindness of many of the European policies aimed at transforming the EU’s economy towards the twin digital and green transitions, hampers Europe’s ability to achieve these transitions and to ensure its future resilience and prosperity.
Relevant publications
On this page you can find publications relevant to Partnerships for Regional Innovation. It includes publications by the PRI Scientific Committee and selected JRC publications of direct relevance to the design and implementation of transformative innovation policies.
Publications by the PRI Scientific Committee
We explore the regional implications of the policy concepts of open strategic autonomy and technology sovereignty, examining how those policies may impact and interact with industrial development and the socio-economic and -ecological transformation of regions. We highlight that the effects of policies on promoting strategic autonomy and technology sovereignty can vary significantly across regions. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of such policies can depend with regional development and cohesion strategies under certain circumstances. To exemplify these arguments, we analyse several cases, including the territorial aspects of military security, energy transitions, microchip production, and critical raw materials. Achieving OSA related goals without compromising environmental and social sustainability requires a fundamental rethink of supply chains, material sourcing and use, radically different energy systems, and a new industrial policy centred on renewable energy sources and sustainable material use.
Transformative innovation policies argue for directionality in science, technology, and innovation (STI) activities, in the sense that activities should respond to addressing societal challenges. This paper answers two questions: How can directionality be defined and operationalised to support policy practice and evaluation? To what extent can selected policy approaches (transition arenas, the EU’s missions, the EU’s just transition initiatives, the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP), and policy integration and coherence) be used to advance directionality, and what are their benefits and drawbacks?
Connectivity plays a crucial role for innovation and may counterbalance the disadvantage of being located in less developed and remote areas. This report gathers together insights from scientific literature on the role of connectivity and can inspire activities in interregional cooperation focusing in particular on those forms of connectivity that support the innovation capacities on firms in less developed and remote areas.
Digitalization can play a crucial role in sustainable development in Europe. The range of applications is vast and includes the exploitation of digital technologies to improve efficiency of resource use and energy consumption, to broaden access to clean water and sanitation, to facilitate the collaboration between policymakers, stakeholders, and citizens, and to allow real-time monitoring and predictive analytics. Nevertheless, policymakers and stakeholders should be aware of challenges and risks posed by digital technologies, such as data privacy, digital disruptions, and technology dependence.
This paper examines a series of ‘innovation policy engineering’ problems which are related to directionality, mission and transformative objectives. Solving these problems will be central to the effectiveness of smart specialisation strategies and of partnerships for regional innovation.
Institutionalising experimentation in innovation policy: challenges and solutions in upscaling
The paper addresses one of the major weaknesses of transformative innovation policy: the lack of solutions for institutionalising experimentation beyond pilots. Drawing insights from literature and real-world examples, it provides tentative advice on how policies should be designed to increase the chance of upscaling.
Rethinking the Role of Universities in Place-Based Innovation Policies for Sustainability Transition
Drawing on various literatures on the contributions of universities to regional development, this paper explores the strategies and practices that would allow universities to make significant contributions to regional sustainability transition processes and policies.
The Recent Place-Based Shift in US Green Industrial and Technological Policies
This report documents the recent and dramatic pivot in the USA’s federal industrial policy arena towards a much more explicitly place-based policy approach. This place-based approach is aimed at revitalising economically weaker regions in the national service of upgrading the US’s technological base and its climate change mitigation agenda.
The Square: putting place-based innovation policy for sustainability at the centre of policymaking
In this anthology, leading scholars reflect on the conditions for place-based innovation for sustainability and its consequences for directionality, strategy development, governance, actors, and instruments for delivery and investment.
Publications by the JRC
Innovation for place-based transformations
‘Innovation for place-based transformations. ACTIONbook, practices and tools’ was published on 26 January 2024 by the Joint Research Centre, in collaboration with the European Committee of the Regions.
Suggestions for Monitoring and Evaluation of Transformative Innovation Policy JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis
This paper focuses on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for transformative innovation policy and provides some recommendations for how to set up M&E, contrasting traditional M&E with modern M&E, and highlighting the need for real-time data.
Missions and Cohesion Policy: Living separate or dancing together?
This paper explores avenues for cross-fertilisation between the mission-oriented approach and Cohesion Policy. It argues in favour of mutual policy learning between the two to address some of their respective shortcomings.
Capacities for transformative innovation in public administrations and governance systems
This study examines closely the design and implementation of 12 transformative innovation policy initiatives. It includes a synthesis of findings on how transformative policies emerge, what governance capacities (and underlying practices) they typically involve, which features of transformative policies can be strengthened, and what difficulties policy makers might encounter.
Partnerships for Regional Innovation Playbook: Concepts and Rationales
This report accompanies the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) Playbook and aims to provide fuller explanations of the concepts and rationales underpinning the PRI approach, with references to relevant literature. It draws on JRC’s experience with S3 over the last decade and synthesises the new scientific paradigm of innovation governance drawing on literatures on transformative innovation policy, sustainability transitions and new industrial policies.
Partnerships for Regional Innovation Playbook
The PRI Playbook presents an initial approach to the construction of a strategic framework for innovation-driven territorial transformation developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, supported by a scientific committee of renowned experts, and is to be further co-created, adapted and tested in a pilot phase with several EU territories.
Enhancing the sustainability dimension in Smart Specialisation strategies: a framework for reflection
This report introduces a tested reflection framework addressed to policy practitioners and experts working in regions and countries willing to strengthen the sustainability dimension of their Smart Specialisation strategies. The framework features reflection questions based on extensive theoretical research and tested in practice.
On the road to regional ‘Competitive Environmental Sustainability’: the role of the European structural funds
This report develops an indicator of employment transitions across sectors, which is used as a proxy of structural change towards more productive and less carbon-intensive economies. It includes an econometric analysis that assesses the role of the European structural funds in these employment transitions.
Discovery processes for transformative innovation policy, Lessons learned from the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) practice
Innovation policy and S3 now should be aligned with EU Green and Digital transitions with the aim to contribute to systemic transformation. By selectively reviewing conceptual and empirical studies, this paper identifies critical lessons from Smart Specialisation implementation and EDP that may be relevant for Member States and regions adopting a new S3 innovation policy frame. In particular, in the context of the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI), lessons from EDP practices may be useful for conceptualisation and development of the proposed Open Discovery Processes - ODP.
Addressing sustainability challenges and Sustainable Development Goals via Smart Specialisation. Towards a theoretical and conceptual framework
This study juxtaposes the S3 framework with theoretical and conceptual approaches underpinning studies on transitions towards sustainability, notably sociotechnical transitions, social-ecological resilience and challenge-driven innovation policy. We reflect on the strengths and limitations of the current S3 framework and make suggestions on how to strengthen and revisit the S3 approach based on the insights from these approaches.
Towards a transformative Smart Specialisation Strategy: lessons from Catalonia, Bulgaria and Greece
This paper reflects on how Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3), and in particular the search for actionable policy pathways through the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP), need to evolve in order to contribute to the transition towards more sustainable and inclusive pathways, in line with the European Green Deal’s objectives and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
POINT review of industrial transition of Bulgaria: Harnessing digitalisation to link and strengthen the ICT and mechatronics sectors
This report documents the findings of a review of industrial transition of Bulgaria launched in 2019 in partnership with the Bulgarian Council of Ministers, which follows the POINT methodology of the JRC. The review explores some of the policy pathways that Bulgaria might take as it seeks to digitalise its economy and derive multiple associated benefits in terms of pervasive productivity improvements and the creation of knowledge-intensive and therefore well-paid jobs for a broad cross section of the workforce.
POINT review of industrial transition of Greece Renewables, batteries and their applications in mobility, agriculture, shipping and defence
This report documents the findings of a review of industrial transition of Greece launched in 2019 in partnership with the Greek Ministry of Development and Investments, which follows the POINT methodology of the JRC. The review explores some of the policy pathways that Greece might take as it moves to an economy that makes greater use of renewable sources of energy and exploits many of the opportunities that are arising in the production and use of batteries in the realms of transport and mobility, agriculture, shipping and defence.
Projecting Opportunities for INdustrial Transitions (POINT). Concepts, rationales and methodological guidelines for territorial reviews of industrial transition
This report provides guidelines with respect to concepts, rationales and methodological considerations aimed at experts conducting territorial reviews of industrial transition and at policy makers and analysts with an interest in the operationalisation of transformative industrial innovation.
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Publications
PUBLICATION |
Innovation for place-based transformations
Addressing complex challenges requires different tools, mindsets and approaches from those traditionally used, which contributed to create some of these challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, raising inequalities. Focusing on one is not sufficient and understanding their...
- BIANCHI Guia; MATTI Cristian; PONTIKAKIS Dimitrios; REIMERIS Ramojus; HAEGEMAN Karel Herman; MIEDZINSKI Michal; SILLERO ILLANES Carmen; MIFSUD Solange; SASSO Simone; BOL Erica; MARQUES SANTOS Anabela; ANDREONI Antonio; JANSSEN Matthijs; SAUBLENS Christian; STEFANOV Ruslan; TOLIAS Yannis
PUBLICATION |
Institutionalising experimentation in innovation policy: challenges and solutions in upscaling
The paper addresses one of the major weaknesses of transformative innovation policy: the lack of solutions for institutionalising experimentation beyond pilots. Drawing insights from literature and real-world examples, it provides tentative advice on how policies should be designed to increase...
- Radosevic, S., Tsekouras, G., Wostner, P.
PUBLICATION |
Contribution of Digitalization to the Sustainable Development in Europe
Digitalization can play a crucial role in sustainable development in Europe. The range of applications is vast and includes the exploitation of digital technologies to improve efficiency of resource use and energy consumption, to broaden access to clean water and sanitation, to facilitate the...
- Phoebe Koundouri; Conrad Landis; Angelos Plataniotis