Renewed challenges for public policies in post-2020 Cohesion Policy: From RIS3 to RIS4 and a new social dimension for smart specialisation

Abstract

In this set of new public policy instruments of the European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, regional smart specialisation strategies (RIS3) were one of its most important ‘flagships’. Given the broad consensus that seems to exist in European institutions as regards the need to continue developing this approach in the EU in the post-2020 period, the main aims of this article are: (i) to analyze the new possible evolutions for strengthening RIS3’s strategic rationale of implementation; (ii) to debate the new challenges for public policy resulting from the new orientations and strategic priorities of the EU Cohesion Policy 2021-2027; (iii) to present a proposal for the evolution of RIS3 to another stage of evolution in the post-2020 period through incorporation of a new social dimension which we call RIS4 - Research, Innovation and Social Strategies for Smart Specialisation. In order to achieve this objective, in addition to the Introduction and Final remarks, the article contains the following main sections: (i) Background theory, where we analyse how the transition from the place-based approach to the smart specialisation rationale allows effective conditions for better operationalization of the first type of approach; (ii) Post-2020 Cohesion Policy and the new challenges for public policy, where we present and discuss a number of key challenges which we believe should be at the centre of the debate on the future of Cohesion Policy. The choices the EU will make on each of these key challenges will determine very different solutions for the future Cohesion Policy. In this section we also debate in detail aspects such as the post-2020 cohesion policy in the framework of the EU's economic governance, the review of place-based approaches, reformulation of the mechanisms for territorialisation of public policy and the strategic priorities of the post-2020 Cohesion Policy;(iii) Smart specialisation and territorial approach post-2020, where we analyse policy implications, new requirements for governance and the increasing policy dimension of smart specialisation, and finally(iv) The European future of ‘smart’. From RIS3 to RIS4, we propose the development of a new stage for smart specialization in post-2020 cohesion policy, based on the increased social dimension of the RIS3.