The HIGHER partners have engaged in lifting and identifying existing good practice cases of Smart Specialisation Strategies, focusing especially on policy instruments.
The HIGHER project aims at creating better policy instruments for collaborative innovation projects in European regions with a focus on regional Smart Specialisation Strategies. The development and implementation of this strategies can be a complex process and the identification and dissemination of good practice has therefore become a salient issue.
For instance, the Catalan Government has created communities of companies and stakeholders in the Catalan R&I system (universities, research centres, technology centres, clusters, etc.) that work in coincident sectors and cooperate to incorporate R&I into production activities.
On the other hand, Slovenia has implemented Strategic Research and Innovation Partnerships, a good example of how to develop a hub of knowledge, expertise, skills and industry, in this case for each of the nine priority areas in the smart specialisation strategy defined in Slovenia.
A good examples from Lithuania are business support measures “InoSpurt” and “InoLink” that have contributed to enhanced companies’ involvement into R&D activities. These instruments help to reduce the fragmentation of innovation advisory and support services. Moreover, these measures influence the scope of the cooperation between business entities and science institutions.
