Good practice:

Knowledge Economy in Balearic Islands

RIS3 in Balearic Islands was focused only on Tourism as the main economic sector. As it depends almost exclusively on this economic sector, Balearics has been losing quality of life since its per capita income has been decreasing at the same pace as the tourism sector has been gaining weight in the Balearic economy. This is due to the demographic increase produced by a very intense sector which is a great generator of unskilled labour.
It was necessary to discover other economic sectors, with high growth possibilities and based on knowledge, with the aim to promote an economic diversification and increase private investment on R&D as well as to increase the recruitment of researcher in business and public sector to increase the added value of products and / or services.
The study had 3 phases:
1st Phase: Quantitative. To provide unknown data about knowledge economy in the Balearic Islands (number of companies, % occupation, economic sectors, …)
2nd Phase: Qualitative. Identification of the main needs and demands of SME’s, weaknesses and strengths of the Government on innovation policies.
3rd Phase: Conclusions and recommendations. Proposals arising from identified weaknesses.
The study has allowed us to initiate a direct dialogue with companies based on knowledge and to initiate the process of entrepreneurial discovery in which, in addition to the companies, the main knowledge generating entities of the Balearic Islands were also included.

Funding: 75,000€
For Quantitative phase: Access to commercial registry databases
For Qualitative phase: intervies with key players in the region's innovative ecosystem. Focus groups with relevant actors from both business sector, public administraton and knowledge generating organisations.

The implementation of the results of the study has helped the Balearic Islands to develop public policies promoting a knowledge based economy with the highest increase in private investment on R&D of all Spanish regions as well as the highest increase in researchers recruitment.
This study was already declared a "best practice" by the General Directorate of European Funds of the Spanish Ministry of Finance last 23 January 2019.

When carrying out the study in island territories, the number of surveys to companies had to be distributed proportionally in order to obtain a representative map of the knowledge economy. Direct interviews and focus groups were more productive being carried out by consultants.

The main factor is the knowledge acquired on the needs and expectations of SME's regarding the policies to be developed. This helps to design policies that will directly affect SME's as well as their recognition once these policies are implemented. On the short run, this generates a productive dialogue between the public administration and business sectors and promotes the interrelation between companies and knowledge generating organisations through the identification of business needs.