Presentation by Ron BOSCHMA, Professor of Regional Economics, Utrecht University, the Netherlands at the 14th Spatial Productivity Lab meeting of the OECD Trento Centre in cooperation with Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum held in virtual format on 8 September 2021.

1. RON BOSCHMA
Professor of Regional Economics, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
8 September 2021 | 15.30-17.00 CEST | Webinar
Innovation diffusion: How can regions benefit?
#spatialproductivity #entreprenörskap
A solution for regions? Smart internationalisation

2. Smart Specialization and inter-regional
diffusion of innovation
• Smart Specialization policy: focus on regional
capabilities as key input to select priority areas
• not only regional capabilities may be important, also
inter-regional linkages, to provide opportunities for
innovation diffusion, and to avoid lock-in
• original set-up of Smart Specialization policy:
connectivity was a requirement but current S3
strategies do not really account for that: utmost, lip
service paid to incorporate Global Value Chains

3. Smart Specialization and inter-regional
diffusion of innovation
• can inter-regional linkages that provide access to
missing capabilities stimulate innovation in region?
• need for absorptive capacity to exploit diffusion of
knowledge: non-local knowledge needs to be related
to local knowledge (Boschma and Iammarino 2009)
• Balland, P. and R. Boschma (2021) Complementary
inter-regional linkages and Smart Specialisation. An
empirical study on European regions, Regional
Studies 55 (6), 1059-1070
• new tool to identify/select other regions as relevant
partners in S3 strategies: focus on exploitation of
complementarities in capabilities between regions,
rather than inter-regional connections per se

4. potential of European regions in hydrogen technologies
source: Balland and Boschma 2019

5. map of complementarity of all European regions
to Île-de-France region in new hydrogen technologies
source: Balland and Boschma 2021

6. Smart Specialization and inter-regional
diffusion of innovation
• same framework can also be applied to Value Chains
• to focus on the potentials of regions to develop and
participate in new Value Chains or upgrade existing
Value Chains, depending on their capabilities in
existing Value Chains

7. implementation of Smart Specialization policy
• helpful to identify priority areas in S3: 2 objectives:
- to enable the development of new activities and value
chains regions show high potential in
- to facilitate the effective diffusion of capabilities and
innovation across regions
• many mechanisms through which that may work:
- to increase the absorptive capacity of regions
- to enable inflows of relevant knowledge
(collaborations), people (labour mobility, migrants),
MNEs, et cetera

8. thank you for your attention!