This paper investigates how and to what extent the Smart Specialisation approach to innovation policy is currently being translated into strategic decisions and policy interventions in Europe. It defines three complementary conditions that operationalize the intervention logic of Smart Specialisation and tests them empirically. The results reveal that Smart Specialisation is being partially implemented. There are in fact significant indications that regions and countries have put in place mechanisms that may circumvent the logic of selective intervention. Implications for policy evaluation are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to study stakeholder involvement in research and innovation policy in Poland in the context of smart specialisation exercise. The article addresses the questions to what extent initiatives such as the foresight programmes, strategic research and development programmes, and sectoral research programmes facilitate the entrepreneurial discovery process for smart specialisation. The role of different groups of actors varies substantially in terms of their involvement and impact on such initiatives. The foresight and strategic research and development programmes were dominated by representatives of the research community and embody a research-oriented top-down approach. The sectoral research programmes are most closely related to the bottom-up and demand-driven approach in which the leading role is played by entrepreneurs. For this reason, they are more familiar with the conditions of the entrepreneurial discovery process. In this case, the important role is also played by the governmental agency which facilitates those processes.

This paper identifies territorial patterns of location of R&D+I grants supporting projects within the Polish Smart Specialisation framework. Using a data set of R&D+I grants from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs), the paper analyses the geographical concentration of projects, the link between local characteristics and the implementation of projects, and attempts at cooperation among organizations implementing projects. The results show an urban-rural divide and confirm the agglomeration of projects around the main Polish cities and industrial locations. By contrast, less-than-adequate conditions in rural areas and smaller counties may limit the potential for attraction and implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3).