Preliminary report on KETs priorities declared by regions in the context of their work on Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3)

The KETs preliminary report consists of information on KETs and Smart specialisation that the S3 Platform has developed and diffused in different forms, as well as relevant information that has been identified by participation in different kinds of events. The first part of the report focuses briefly on the role of KETs in smart specialisation as a means of regional development, i.e. the policy rationale for regions to invest in KETs. The second part summarises policy recommendations and tools with regard to Smart Specialisation and KETs, as have been identified in events on the topic, where the S3 Platform has participated. The third part provides maps on regional priorities related to KETs. The data for this section come from the new web-based priority mapping tool called Eye@RIS3. This tool displays a range of priorities identified and declared by regions for their RIS3 and includes, the names of the regions that are in the database (69), the names of those that have indicated a priority with relation to KETs (48 in total), a list of the priorities related to KETs (96 -around 20% of the total number of listed priorities), connection to regional innovation scoreboard, and connection to patent data as an indicator of regional capabilities. The report presents the following initial conclusions and envisaged next steps: i) Regions tend to indicate that in the context of the RIS3, exercise horizontal priorities need to be defined and that these could involve the diffusion and/or application of KETs; ii) still there are many questions related to state aid and financing of KETs; iii) all types of regions aim for KETs: not only leaders, but all of the range from leader to modest; and iv) around 2/3 of all regions whose data are included in the "Eye@RIS3" database mention KETs as a priority of their RIS3. Around 20% of all priorities declared by regions whose data are included in the "Eye@RIS3" database are related to KETs.