Smart Specialisation strategies are an expression of sound innovation policies and as such are of interest not only to EU member states, but also to non-EU countries willing to improve their innovation ecosystems. To support participatory and evidence-based processes in the EU Neighbourhood countries, the S3 Platform developed a pilot project that supports the early preparatory phases of the development of research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation in one EU enlargement country - Serbia.
As of 2018, the remaining five Western Balkan economies have joined Serbia in developing smart specialisation strategies. The information on the status quo of smart specialisation processes in all Western Balkan economies can be found on the links to the economies in the menu below.
EU Enlargement
The EU's enlargement policy deals with the countries currently aspiring to become members of the European Union.
Latest news
The Joint Research Centre has released a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), now available through EU Academy, the EU-owned online knowledge hub. The course was developed from the extensive work done by the JRC in the promotion of the Smart Specialisation Framework for the EU Enlargement and...
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) received a delegation from Bosnia and Herzegovina in its Seville premises last 28th and 29th of November, 2022 to discuss the state of the art of the Smart Specialisation design process in that Balkan country. The collaboration between the Territorial and Urban...
On October 18 and 19, 2022, the Marriott hotel in Skopje was the chosen venue for the international conference “Implementing the Western Balkan Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport – Support to Smart Specialisation in the Western Balkans and Türkiye”. More than 100...
Events
Smart Specialisation: main achievements and forthcoming challenges in EU enlargement
Implementing the Western Balkan Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport
Conference “Implementation of Smart Specialisation in Montenegro”
Publications
The Western Balkan economies are carrying out the Smart Specialisation process by following the Smart Specialisation framework for the EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Region, with the support of the Joint Research Centre. One of the crucial stages of the process is to identify priority areas for...
- RADOVANOVIC Nikola; REID Alasdair; JEVREMOVIC Aleksandar; GERUSSI Elisa
More than a decade ago, European countries and regions adopted a new approach to defining their innovation policies, based on the Smart Specialisation concept. The objective was to define priority areas for further investments and to create a strong structure for developing and maintaining their...
- RADOVANOVIC Nikola; BOLE Domen
This study supports a first identification of the economic and productive domains that might be considered in the selection of the priority areas for a Smart Specialisation Strategy in Kosovo. It includes both a quantitative and a qualitative analysis that identify a number of industries and...
- HOLLANDERS, Hugo; REXHËBEQAJ, Valmira; GERUSSI, Elisa