The Joint Research Centre (JRC) publishes reports to boost support for Green Transition of EU Economies
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, published two reports discussing case studies across five EU countries towards Green Transition.
The reports are part of a broader analytical and critical exercise that seeks to contribute to the development of new models for regional and local authorities aiming to boost support for Green Transition of their economies through smarter innovation policies, using the smart specialisation (S3) approach.
The first report, published in September 2022 under the topic of Green Transition in EU regions, aimed to contribute to the development of new models for regional and local authorities towards boosting support for Green Transition of their economies through smarter innovation policies, using the smart specialisation approach. The report provided a detailed overview of the lessons learnt from five case studies on regions from across the European Union representing a diversity of approaches to using smart specialisation for Green Transition: the Basque Country in Spain, the Centro region in Portugal, the region of East & North Finland, the region of Western Macedonia in Greece and the region of West Netherlands. The report also highlighted the context-specific aspects of each region and the cross-cutting elements. Drawing together the different elements presented, the conclusion provided a summary overview of the findings and suggested pathways to innovation-led Green Transition for European regions.
The second report, published in October 2022 covered more analytically the aforementioned case studies’ findings including three sections on (i) Profile of the region and key development challenges; (ii) Innovation strategies and policies for green transition: incorporating societal challenges; (iii) Understanding and monitoring innovation-led green transition for each case study. Drawing together the different elements presented, the conclusion provided a summary overview of each case and the authors’ opinion on it.
Overall, the research showed how the five regions are engaged in enhanced strategic efforts, compared to the 2014-2020 funding period, to create their own original pathways towards Green Transition, in which innovation plays a significant role. However, the nature of how these efforts can be measured varies widely between these regions. Considering this, the authors emphasised that the Smart Specialisation approach was never meant to embody unidimensional on-paper strategies which could not evolve during their implementation period. Therefore, the innovation strategies relevant for Green Transition in the Case Study Regions, adopted for the start of the new EU funding period 2021-2027, should be capable of refinement during implementation as circumstances change.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Nauwelaers, C., Harding, R., Perianez-Forte, I., et al., Towards Green Transition in EU regions : smart specialisation for transformative innovation, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/14696
Publication: Case studies towards Green Transition in EU regions. Smart specialisation for transformative innovation.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Nauwelaers, C., Harding, R., Perianez-Forte, I., et al., Case studies towards Green Transition in EU regions : smart specialisation for transformative innovation, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/382998