From Plan to Process: Governance & Leadership Implications of RIS3 (presented at EU Open Days University in session on 'operationalising smart specialisation')

1. From plan to process:
Governance & leadership
implications of RIS3
James Wilson
Orkestra & Deusto University
FP7 Smartspec

2. RIS3 and Entrepreneurial Discovery
• Territorial strategy undergoing a popularity boom
• In Europe debate shaped around RIS3
• Foray et al. (2012) & growing academic literature
• ‘Entrepreneurial discovery process’ (EDP) the
defining characteristic of smart specialisation
• Territorial strategy, not government strategy
• Participation of ‘quadruple helix’
• In practice EDP a black box: we are all learning
• In particular need to know more about
governance & leadership requirements

3. From plan to process
• EDP requires shift from fixed plans to open processes
• Territorial strategy is ‘alive’
• EDP is sensitive
• Vertical prioritization & horizontal prioritization
• Ultimately about making choices, which are difficult
(Foray, 2013)
• EDP is complex
• Multiple levels of territory
• Multiple layers of decision-making

4. Illustration: Visualizing Basque EDP

5. New capabilities for RIS3
• Lessons from literature on place-leadership
• Purposive vs spontaneous governance (Collinge &
Gibney, 2010)
• Knowledge leadership (Sotarauta, 2012)
• Shared leadership (Conger & Pearce, 2013)
• RIS3 requires:
• A mix & rotation of leaderships
Leaders with systemic vision
Leaders with understanding of processes
Leaders with knowledge of specific fields
• Leaders with a dual reference frame
• Leaders from different parts of the quadruple helix

6. Different regions, different needs
• Comparative analysis of Basque Country & Navarre
reveals very different contexts for RIS3
• These characteristics are impacting noticeably on
the development of their RIS3
Basque Country Navarre
• Administrative complexity
• History of government-led plans &
thematic priorities
• Lack of involvement of universities in
territorial strategy
• Diversified & endogenous business
sector with a tradition of involvement
in territorial strategy
• Political instability
• History of more horizontal & bottom-up
policies
• Lack of involvement of universities in
territorial strategy
• Large presence of foreign capital in
business sector, with reluctance to
participate in territorial strategy

7. Lessons for governance of RIS3
• Context matters, in particular type of regional
complexity & degree of political stability
• Systemic leadership key in more complex scenarios
• Degree of political stability a prerequisite
• Path dependency shapes shift from plan to process
• Security of plan presents a barrier
• Perceptions of ownership of strategy very important
• We should think in terms of a leadership mix
• Different leaderships necessary at different times
• Knowing when to step forward & back is key

8. Thank You