Implementation of a Strategy of Smart Specialization in the EU Countries and Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the experience of implementation of the strategy of smart specialization in the EU and to determine the possibilities of implementing the principles of smart specialization for the pilot regions of Ukraine. As a result of the study, it has been found that the strategy of smart specialization should ideally be more integrative in research and innovation-oriented innovation policies, cohesion policy, European value chain and network initiatives, industrial policy, and in the future, will expand the current scale of dissemination, which was recognized by the European Commission. So, for the next programming period (2021-2027) proposed, among other things, that most of the funds of the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund will go to the development of innovation, support for small business, digital technologies and industrial modernization. It will also mean the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy, and the fight against climate change. The implementation of the principles of smart specialization for the EU countries, characterized by the openness of innovative systems, creates conditions for the modernization of technology and regional specialization, in order to provide unique territorial competitive advantages. The peculiarity of the introduction of the concept of smart specialization for the EU regions with the availability of significant scientific and innovative potential, powerful clusters and developed infrastructure is the application of one of the important principles of smart specialization of «entrepreneurial search», that is, the initiation of a policy of smart specialization «from the bottom up».However, it should be noted that the use of this principle in practice is problematic both for the EU countries and for Ukraine, which is in the process of gradual decentralization.

The reliability of the results of the study carried out in the paper is ensured using tools for generalization and processing of official statistics, expert reports, author’s observations and calculations. The validity of the results obtained is due to the correctness of the application of the research and analytical apparatus, tested in scientific practice, and due to the comparison of the results of work and the data of international experience. The basis for the proposed recommendations was the evidence of analytical conclusions.