Smart Specialisation Strategies and Mission-oriented approach: Bridging Theory and Practice

JRC Working Paper Series on Transforming Territories N° 01/ 2025

This paper explores the extent to which established policy frameworks, particularly Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3s), can incorporate a mission-oriented approach (MOA). We build an analytical framework based on MOA key features and apply it to three case studies of S3s with a transformative ambition (Catalonia, Northern Netherlands, Brussels). Our findings reveal that shifting regional innovation strategies towards a mission-led or challenge-oriented dimensions entails trade-offs between strategic directionality and the bottom-up flexibility and face challenges in engaging societal actors in the governance, as well as in aligning policies and diversifying policy instruments beyond cohesion policy ones.