Lesson for a policy-maker from real-life self-discovery in economies with weak institutions

P. 225–248.

Gonchar K. R., Kuznetsov Y., Wade I.

This chapter provides historical evidence of innovation-led structural changes at the sub-national level in high-middle income economies, with particular emphasis on economies characterised by a significant knowledge base and weak institutions. Although manifestly not the outcome of smart specialization policy, the examples of self-discovery, entrepreneurchip and experimentation discussed here describe real-life smart specialization processes. Lessons are drawn to inform S3 policy designs and implementation: (1) Most success stories occurred spontanously, with limited policy interventions, and were led by self-discovery of private and public actors; (2) regional development is usually a by-product of the national or global success of private first movers that can initiate exclaves but may fails to become developed regional clusters; (3) 'Critical mas' of capabilities is a key policy problem at the sub-national level; (4) Collective action and coordination problems impede the S3 process; (5) Complementarity of various regional policies may increase the effectiveness of government support.

Keywords: инновации, Россия, Russia, innovation, институты, региональное развитие, institutions, regional development, Argentina, Аргентина, эксперименты, experiments

Publication based on the results of: Drivers and Barriers of Structural Changes in Russian Manufacturing in the Context of New Model of Economic Growth (2016)

In book

Advances in the theory and practice of smart specialization

Adnreescu L. L.: Elsevier, 2017.