ABSTRACT
The notion of smart specialisation was conceived around 2009, in a very specific place, the Knowledge for Growth Expert Group, composed of growth and innovation economists. It must be emphasised that the analysis of the spatial, and especially regional, dimensions of innovation policies, whose development lies at the crossroads between geographical economics and technological change economics, was conceived well before that and was already widespread both within the academic community and in the public-policy arena. The origins of the idea are to be found in the discussions and communications that animated the Knowledge for Growth Expert Group established by Research Commissioner J. Potocnik in 2005. These origins are strongly connected to discussions within the group about foreign Research and Development (R&D) in European regions and the ways in which these regions could be more attractive to global firms' location strategies.
