Cohesion Policy incentives for collaborative industrial research: evaluation of a Smart Specialisation forerunner programme

This paper evaluates a programme of subsidies for collaborative industrial research (co-)funded by the European Union’s Cohesion Policy in Italy mobilizing over €1 billion. In the 2007–13 funding cycle, the programme was a precursor to some of the key features of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) programmes, offering evidence-based insights into potential challenges of the practical application of the S3 approach. The programme was unsuccessful in boosting investments, value added or employment of beneficiary firms. The collaborative dimension of the projects added limited value and a more generous funding level would not have improved effectiveness. However, positive impacts emerged in low-tech sectors.