The challenge

Regions across Europe are expected to design and implement Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) that guide innovation investments, strengthen competitiveness and support the EU’s green and digital transitions. However, many regional authorities face practical challenges such as limited analytical capacity, fragmented governance structures and difficulties in identifying strategic priorities or collaborating across borders. To address these needs the Smart Specialisation Community of Practice (S3 CoP) was established. It represents the main platform supporting Member States and regions in improving their S3 strategies, governance and implementation. A key component of the S3 CoP is the support provided to more than 40 S3 partnerships on behalf of IDEA Consult and the rest of the Consortium.

Approach & result

within the S3 CoP, IDEA Consult had a hands-on and operational role, working directly with the partnerships and regional authorities. IDEA was responsible for delivering specialised and tailored services that would help strengthen S3 strategies and interregional cooperation mechanisms within and across partnerships. Through these services IDEA Consult supported 40+ partnerships across areas such as hydrogen, advanced materials, agrifood, health, the Blue Economy, energy and industrial modernisation. These services included:

• Training and capacity building on interregional innovation: helps partnerships strengthen their interregional collaboration skills through guidance, workshops, and stakeholder-engagement support
• Governance: assists partnerships in establishing a clear governance model with defined leaderships, decision-making, and organisational structures
• (Re)Scoping: supports partnerships in refining or updating their priorities and activities based on shared needs and evolving contexts
• Mapping: identifies and analyses regional competences to inform collaboration potential and future demonstration activities  
• Smart Partnering: helps partnerships find and engage complementary new partners to fill competence gaps and strengthen the consortium
• Funding, Finance and Investment Assistance: guides partnerships in identifying suitable funding sources and structuring their financial approach for future projects
• Demonstration: assists partnerships in designing pilot or demonstration projects and creating tools for generating joint initiatives
• Scale-up and commercialisation: supports partnerships in accessing new markets, scaling services and accelerating commercialisation of innovation

In addition to the service delivery, IDEA Consult was also responsible for organising two Steering Committee meetings per year, which brough together the European Commission, consortium partners and key S3 CoP stakeholders to review progress, discuss strategic orientations and plan upcoming activities. These meetings served as the main governance mechanisms of the S3 CoP, ensuring strategic coordination, alignment of services and continuous feedback between all involved parties. A total of six Steering Committee meetings took place during the project: three in-person meetings in Madrid (ES), Rimini (IT) and Brussels (BE), and three online meetings.

Our experts were also actively involved in the S3 CoP Working Groups, contributing with their methodological expertise, facilitating exchanges among practitioners and helping develop guidance materials and thematic insights relevant for S3 implementation and interregional cooperation.