Good practice:

The RIS3 monitoring system

The RIS3 monitoring system for Puglia Region is based on primary data provided directly from applicants and beneficiaries of regional calls implemented under Smart Specialisation strategy. This kind of approach allows to overcome some ostacles linked to the monitoring of RIS3 and have data at a good level of granularity and timely. The RIS3 monitoring system develops around a set of four questionnaires, which are delivered through a web interface during the application and, if successful, at the end of the grant: an ex-ante and an ex-post project questionnaires and an ex-ante questionnaire for applicants and an ex-post one for beneficiaries.
Thanks to this approach, firms and research centres are involved actively in the monitoring activity and become more and more aware of the importance of providing reliable and useful data. On the other hand policy makers may have at the their disposal original data for a more efficient policy design process.

The implementation of the monitoring system requires at least 3 human resources with statistical, analytical and policy analysis skills.

This approach made it possible to collect information over time on 400 beneficiaries of the 10 regional interventions implemented under RIS3 and to monitor over time how the dynamics and innovative behaviors of these beneficiaries have changed over time. Regarding the policy design process, this system allows a better understanding of the dynamics of innovation within each area of specialization in order to better define these areas and to define more targeted instruments.

The main challenge is represented by the necessity of a coordination among the organisations in charge of the RIS3 monitoring with the Managing Authority and all the organisations involved in the design and implementation of the Smart Specialisation Strategy.

This kind of system may be adapted to the different needs of other regional and national administrations as it is flexible enough. In particular, the structure of the proposed questionnaire can be adapted to respond to the specific objectives of the strategy identified and to the specific knowledge needs. It allows to acquire the data necessary to calculate the output and result indicators for the areas of specialization, it allows you to have a system of constantly updated data and to be able to prepare short reports to analyse the dynamics of evolution in the various areas of specialization.