La estrategia de especialización inteligente en el País Vasco

The main objective of this paper is to highlight the key elements of the Basque smart specialization strategy. During the last three decades, the Basque Country, Euskadi, has made a remarkable collective effort of transformation. It has allowed the country to develop new activities of more added value, and at the same time maintain its high industrial specialization. In developing this strategy, along with content aspects (strategy focal points), process and governance are also very important. These elements present different levels of maturity, formalization and evolution, They also had very different starting points. This variety is positive to compensate potential risks and results in an improved use of knowledge through experience. Finally, the paper explains what «lidera» (which can be translated like Lead) is: a very interesting initiative within the context of smart specialization strategies.