Smart specialisation programmes and implementation

In the design and implementation of policy, Paul Romer (2000) proposed a useful distinction between goals and programmes. Goals should be rather conservative (i.e. easy to accept). They should be objectives that are neither risky nor radical and for which there is a broad base of intellectual and political support. Goals should remain relatively constant over time. They should also involve metrics for measuring success. In contrast to a goal, a programme is a specific policy proposal that seeks to move the system toward a specific goal. It should be possible to judge the success of a programme against the metrics implied by the goal that it serves. All programmes should be designed so that they can be evaluated on a policy-relevant time horizon. If they are, they can also be less conservative and more experimental than the underlying goals. A variety of programmes could be tried, including ones where there is some uncertainty about whether they will succeed. If the evidence shows that they do not work, they can be modified or stopped. This policy brief aims at giving an operational content to the concept of smart specialisation. Starting with the identification of the sequence of programmes that need to be designed and implemented as key components of the policy process, we will proceed further to address very practical issues of implementation.