Designing smart specialisation strategies in less advantaged regions

Iga César, Ana Carolina

Designing smart specialisation strategies in less advantaged regions
Evidence from two case studies in Latin America

dc.contributor.advisor	Magro Montero, Edurne	es_ES
dc.contributor.author	Iga César, Ana Carolina	es_ES
dc.contributor.other	Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales	es_ES
dc.contributor.other	Programa de Doctorado en Competitividad Empresarial y Territorial, Innovación y Sostenibilidad (Interuniversitario)	es_ES
dc.date.accessioned	2024-02-20T10:02:10Z
dc.date.available	2024-02-20T10:02:10Z
dc.date.issued	2023-07-14
dc.description.abstract	Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) have shaped the academic debate in regional innovation policy. This dissertation empirically investigates the academic and practical implications of adopting such strategy in non-European contexts. The importance of studying non-European regions relies on two main facts: first, it sheds light on the elements that foster or hinder the process of S3 from regions with different contextual challenges. Second, it provides evidence on regions that are barely explored, but that are included in the group of intermediate regions for which S3 is expected to make more sense (Foray, 2019). A multiple case-study approach compares the large metropolitan regions of Medellin, Colombia and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Both of which have embraced the S3 strategy to shape their innovation policies. Those regions are similar in hard economic and structural data but different in softer elements, such as the previous experiences and institutional arrangements. A variety of data collection procedures are used, including in-depth interviews with 33 relevant actors from the triple helix, that participated in the S3 design process and the discovery process of regional specialisation activities. This document contributes to the literature in different ways: first, identifying the regional scope that makes more sense for regional policy in large metropolitan regions; for which the scope of city-region is suggested; second, highlighting the importance of soft regional elements such as sense of ownership, previous experiences and institutional arrangements, innovation system, and leadership as a connective mechanism; third, a recognition of the importance of considering both a systemic and evolutionary perspective for adapting S3 to different regions. A systemic perspective is useful in bottom-up strategies that deal with a wide range of stakeholders, but also a less-explored evolutionary perspective to manage novelty and break path-dependencies, not only in industrial activities but also in the way participatory policymaking processes take place; finally, the case studies provide evidence on the uses that S3 has in intermediate large metropolitan regions in non-European context in regions with limited financial funds and innovation capabilities; where the approach has a more productive perspective. Finally, this work argues that the third S of S3 which corresponds to the word ¿strategies? receives less attention in S3 literature and therefore, provides an analysis of the process from a strategy perspective.	es_ES
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14454/1207
dc.language.iso	eng	es_ES
dc.publisher	Universidad de Deusto	es_ES
dc.subject	Ciencias económicas	es_ES
dc.subject	Organización industrial y políticas gubernamentales	es_ES
dc.subject	Organización y dirección de empresas	es_ES
dc.title	Designing smart specialisation strategies in less advantaged regions	es_ES
dc.title	Evidence from two case studies in Latin America	es_ES
dc.type	doctoral thesis	es_ES