Methodology approach on benchmarking regional innovation on smart Specialisation (Ris3): A joint macro-regional tool to regional performance evaluation and monitoring in Central Europe

Abstract

The current funding period of the European Union 2014 – 2020 advocates the application of the Smart Specialisation approach that has to be implemented on regional level. European NUTS-2 regions shall evaluate and reconsider their regional strategies for the upcoming funding period. Due to the high differences among the regions in terms of existing monitoring systems and policies, the performance measurement lacks a solid basis for a sufficient comparison, exemplification and transfer. In order to reduce this research gap, within this paper, the authors developed a comprehensible methodological tool using a given number of NUTS-2 regions with their distinctive monitoring systems and indicators in Central Europe. The benchmarking process is focusing on deploying existing performance indicators from each regional strategy, analysing them and aiming at developing one common set of indicators. As a result, the developed methodology approach enables sufficient performance comparison in terms of RIS3 implementation in the current funding period on the one hand, and provides a crucial input for the future monitoring system design. As a result, the novel methodological tool yields contribution to both scholarly literature and practitioners. Furthermore, the benchmarking method provides various selection and combination options that allow direct insights in different fields’ performance, such as regional spending to facilitate RIS3 implementation and Entrepreneurial Discovery process implementation as well. With this tool concerned, policy recommendations for the upcoming funding period and updates on the regional strategies can be drawn up.