Delivered at:: Department of Public Administration (Faculty of Management (Nizhny Novgorod))

Course type:: Elective course

When:: 4 year, 3 module

Instructor

Ivanova, Ekaterina

Full Syllabus

Abstract

The course explores conceptual issues and practical challenges of regional development based on smart specialization. It discusses global benchmarks, highlights most recent policy initiatives with references to the key theoretical basics of smart specialization. The course prepares students for efficient STI management in both private and public sectors, and blends theory and practice by working on a wide range of cases. The combination of lectures and self-studies enable students to gain insight into smart specialization and entrepreneurial discovery process, understand problems and find policy solutions. Students are expected to present the results of their research projects at seminars with invited experts.

Learning Objectives

The course prepares students for efficient STI management in both private and public sectors, and blends theory and practice by working on a wide range of cases.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students interpret the key concepts and definitions related to smart specialization.
Students apply methods to analyze and develop smart specialization strategies (S3 Assessment Wheel)
Students cite examples of regional economic transformation and analyze them base on five template strategis.
Students judge about the industrial composition of a region based on clusters of related industries.
Students create and critisize smart specialization concepts.

Course Contents

1. Conceptual basis of smart specialization (S3)
2. Operational principles of smart specialization
3. Transformation strategies within smart specialization
4. Industrial profile of regions and smart specialization
5. Smart specialization in practice

Assessment Elements

Transformation scenario for a region
Mini-groups (4 people); written (MS Power point) + defence at class 1. Choose one region of Russia 2. Analyse the region’s economic profile in the Atlas according to the structure below: choose the key industries you think the region should focus on (p. 106). To see a full list of economic activities that make up an industry, see p. 242 compare these industries with the regions of similar specializations – two above and two below (p. 43). What are the region’s key competitors? Are the region’s positions in these industries stronger or weaker than those of the competitors? What are the opportunities for inter-regional cooperation? find information about the key industries of your region in open sources . Are they prospering or declining (supplement with relevant statistics – dynamics of jobs, companies, output)? What are the recent initiatives in these industries in the region (e.g. new enterprises opened, investments attracted, special programme launched) suggest the vision for transformation of these industries according to the scenarios on slide 5 (you can choose one scenario or a mix of different scenarios). Title slide with the mini-group members’ names and references to the sources of information throughout the ppt are mandatory. All mini-group members should participate in the presentation and discussion to get the grade.
Case-study "Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) in Jondor"
1. Read the case – the description of a Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) in Jondor. 2. Analyse the region’s efforts to develop an S3 using Assessment wheel (use excel template). You need to assess how much the S3 described in the case matches 18 critical factors. Prepare a table with scores (0 – no match to a critical factor; 0.5 – incomplete match; 1 – full match) and a spider graph (see frame 2 of Jamboard for reference). Mandatory components of the text: title table with scores and the graph explanation of the scores for each of 6 steps summary regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy according to S3 approach recommendations to improve the strategy design according to S3 approach Maximum length – 3 pages (12 font, 1.5 spacing). Quality of text (logic, argumentation, clarity of ideas) are subject to assessment.
Designing a cluster and a living lab
Test

Interim Assessment

2022/2023 3rd module
0.25 * Transformation scenario for a region + 0.25 * Case-study "Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) in Jondor" + 0.25 * Test + 0.25 * Designing a cluster and a living lab

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Caseiro, N., & Santos, D. (2018). Smart Specialization Strategies and the Role of Entrepreneurial Universities. Business Science Reference.
European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, Dominique Foray, John Goddard, & Xabier Goenaga Beldarrain. (2012). Guide to Research and Innovation Strategies for smart specialisation (RIS 3). https://doi.org/10.2776/65746
Mercedes Delgado, Michael E. Porter, & Scott Stern. (2016). Defining clusters of related industries. Journal of Economic Geography, (1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbv017
Nolin, T. P. (2009). Handbook of Regional Economics. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Pronestì, Giuseppe. (2018). Life Cycle of Clusters in Designing Smart Specialization Policies. 10.1007/978-3-030-03780-2

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Dinc Mustafa Introduction to Regional Economic Development [Book]. - Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015.
E. Marrocu, R. Paci, D. Rigby, & S. Usai. (2020). Smart Specialization Strategy: any relatedness between theory and practice? Working Paper CRENoS.
Hassink, R., & Gong, H. (2019). Six critical questions about smart specialization. European Planning Studies, 27(10), 2049–2065. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1650898
Izushi, H., & Huggins, R. (2011). Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters : The Ideas of Michael Porter. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=438463
Slavo Radosevic, Adrian Curaj, Radu Gheorghiu, Liviu Andreescu, & Imogen Wade. (2017). Advances in the Theory and Practice of Smart Specialization. Academic Press.

Authors

Белохлебова Наталья Александровна
IVANOVA EKATERINA ALEKSEEVNA

Bachelor’s Programme 'Business Administration'

Contacts

Smart specialization: enterprise search of regional development