Combining technological relatedness and sectoral specialization for improving prioritization in Smart Specialisation

Anastasia Panoria* , Christina Kakderib & Ilias Dimitriadisc a Department of Economic and Regional development, Panteion University of Athens, Athens, Greece; and URENIO Research Unit, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.b School of Spatial Planning and Development and URENIO Research, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.c Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.an.panori@panteion.grSupplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2021.1988552.ABSTRACTRelatedness is a popular concept for regional branching within Smart Specialisation. However, this proximity-network approach misses its regional perspective, making difficult its operationalization in regional policies. This paper advances the regional perspective of relatedness for improving prioritization in Smart Specialisation by combining the concepts of technological relatedness and sectoral specialization. Using a four-stage methodology, we reveal potential Smart Specialisation priorities for a set of 16 European regions considering both cognitive links arising through technological relatedness and their regional structures. The proposed methodology reduces the stress of regional stakeholders participating in entrepreneurial discovery processes by providing a narrower set of priorities.