Smart specialization is one of the most central pillars of the EU’s reformed Cohesion policy. Contrary to traditional sector-neutral (horizontal) approaches,
smart specialization requires regions to concentrate their investments on a limited number of context-specific research and innovation priorities. Yet, this
increase of public support alone is not enough to trigger meaningful structural change unless it is coupled with policy instruments that enhance the existing
R&I network and strengthen cooperation among the different innovation ecosystem stakeholders.
Valencia’s Smart Specialization Strategy was officially approved by the regional government in 2014. The total budget allocated in the strategy for the 2014-2023
period exceeds 1.6 billion Euros, making it one of the most important public policy instruments for stimulating regional research and innovation. About 75% of the
public funds designated for the implementation of RIS3 are managed by two public institutions: the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) and the Valencian Institute
for Business Competitiveness (IVACE). In this study we look at the R&I network that emerged as a result of the collaborative open calls launched annually by the
two entities. More specifically we consider the following open calls:
- R&D in cooperation (IVACE)
- Strategic projects in cooperation (AVI)
- Consolidation of the business value chain (AVI)
Note: IVACE’s objectives are geared toward assisting regional SMEs in increasing their competitiveness and overall innovative capacity. Hence, the open calls launched by IVACE target primarily private businesses. AVI, on the other hand, seeks to enhance collaboration between universities, research centers, the public administration and the private sector.
A brief overview of the data used for the analysis is provided below:
| Total number of open calls considered | 3 |
| Time period | 2016-2021 |
| Total number of collaborative projects | 319 |
| Share of approved projects | 51.4% |
| Total number of participating organizations | 437 |
The objective of this dashboard is twofold:
- provide actionable insight for policymakers and inform decision-making
- make data and research on the implementation of smart specialisation accessible for all stakeholders involved, including companies, research centers, universities, public administration and the general public.
The map below shows the spatial distribution of all 437 innovative actors (private companies, research centers, universities, associations, etc.) who requested public funding for carrying out collaborative R&D projects at one of the three open calls outlined above.
The links between actors represent collaborative R&D projects, which can be filtered by year using the box on the right-hand side. Note that the map includes both approved and rejected projects.
The total amount of subsidies awarded for the advancement of regional collaborative R&D projects has increased steadily since the establishment of AVI in 2018. The graphic below shows the evolution of funding between 2016 and 2021.
An aspatial map of the regional collaborative network is presented below. It allows the user to filter organizations based on the amount of total funding (subsidy) they have received from either AVI or IVACE for the 2016-2021 period and highlights the position of these entities within the network. Note that the edges (links) of the network are weighted, meaning that the thickness of each line is proportional to the frequency of collaboration between the connected actors. By selecting 0 from the dropdown menu, we can see that many of the organizations which failed to obtain the requested funding are positioned outside the central network structure and lack critical links to the core.
The graphic below shows the total number of R&D partnerships per year which requested funding from AVI and IVACE during the 2016-2021 period. Rejected project applications are displayed in a darker shade. The tool on the top right-hand side can be used to toggle between the two public funding bodies. Note that AVI was established in 2018.
The vast majority of organizations participating in the R&D partnerships are private for-profits. The “Others” category captures non-profit organizations and cooperatives.
The graph below shows the distribution of partnerships according to the geographical distance between partners (measured in km). Across all 6 years of observations,
we note that the distance between many partners is less than 20 km. This spatial proximity between the collaborating actors implies that they most likely knew
each other before entering in a consortium, putting into question the extent to which the policy instruments implemented by AVI and IVACE actually stimulated
the formation of new links as opposed to reinforcing existing network connections.
Alternatively, the short distance between the actors may also signal
that they are members of the same cluster, in which case we can argue that the implementation of the open calls helped strengthen some sector-specific micro-networks
across the region.
