Smart specialisation, entrepreneurship and SMEs: issues and challenges for a results-oriented EU regional policy

Abstract

This paper discusses the ways that European regional policy has been re-shaped in order to build on the role played by entrepreneurship in driving regional innovation. The various lines of re-thinking which have helped to reform the policy draw heavily on modern theories of entrepreneurship and innovation, and these insights have contributed significantly to many of the elements of new policy logic and framework. Yet, these ideas also derive both from worldwide, rather than EU-specific insights, and also from a wide range of academic fields. Setting the EU agenda within the broader global context is therefore also important in order to help identify both the commonalities and differences between policy approaches in different types of places.