Course: Designing a smart specialization strategy

The concept of smart specialisation strategy has had an immense impact in Europe and beyond after the European Council’s decision to adopt smart specialisation as an essential principle of European regional policies. Even though the general principles are well known in Europe by now, the actual implementation and monitoring processes of Smart Specialisation Strategies remain rather uncommon in the applied fields. Yet we believe that this approach has great potential – even beyond Europe: especially in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia – to assist policymakers, experts and public agencies in structuring their policy and development programmes.
The course offers an overview of the concept and methods allowing the design and application of a smart specialisation strategy on the regional (or national) scale. Furthermore, the course intends to motivate the course participants to take action and develop a Smart Specialisation Strategy for their respective regions. It combines formal presentations, numerous case studies carried out in the field, as well as first-hand accounts. It is especially intended for public policymakers on the regional, national and international levels and also for those responsible for development policies. Furthermore, it addresses experts and analysts who develop consulting services in this domain or work in international organisations as well as Master and PhD students and researchers in the fields of economics of innovation, technology policy and regional studies. The course is directed and supervised by Dominique Foray (creator of the concept and has been deeply involved in European smart specialisation policy between 2009 and 2013) and by Martin Eichler (chief economist, BAKBASEL, expert in regional economic analysis and experienced consultant to many regions in terms of regional benchmarking and economic assessment).
Organizational information: The MOOC Smart Specialisation Strategy will last from January 16 to February 17, 2017. Its participation is priced at € 350 (incl. EPFL certificate if successful concluded).
The reason for us contacting you is that we consider you a very important player in the field of regional economic development and Smart Specialisation. Also, the course represents a value added to your organisation members and business partners. Thus, we intend to offer a substantial reduction for each course participant who is member of your network related to the field of Smart Specialisation. In order to get a discount of € 100 per registration we would like to get you on board to help us diffuse the information concerning the MOOC on Smart Specialisation Strategies.