ABSTRACT
In this paper we will address the methods and procedures of entrepreneurial discovery (ED). As argued in the early literature on the topic, any smart specialisation strategy that did not include this principle would have an entirely different character. Why is it such an important principle? The aim of this chapter is to explain the centrality of ED in designing and implementing a smart specialisation strategy (RIS3). The arguments in this paper draw extensively on the insights addressed by a set of papers already published by Foray and co-authors on various aspects of this topic (Foray et al., 2009; Foray and Goenega, 2013; Foray and Rainoldi, 2012; Foray, 2015), and the rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the conceptual underpinnings of smart specialisation policy and why this approach is relevant for regional policy. Section 3 explains that the very logic of RIS3 – described as ‘sector non-neutral’ – requires governments to make choices and establish vertical priorities, which entails high risk. Section 4 then explains how ED is a unique concept to minimize such risks and provides a careful description of the ‘anatomy’ of an ED process. Section 5 is about translating the objectives and principles described in the previous sections at a certain level of abstraction into practical implementation: a set of tools and programmes that will provide a more operational content to the concept; and section 6 provides some final thoughts and conclusions.
