National and Regional Smart Specialization Strategy in Italy: A Consistency Analysis

Smart Specialization Strategy in Italy consists of a National Strategy and Regional Strategies. The National Strategy focuses on 5 priority areas, while Regional Strategies on 12 areas of specialization, thus generating potential coordination problems. Analysing the documents of the Regional Strategies, written according to bottom-up processes, onentrepreneurial discovery, and comparing them with some works in the literature, which identify the investment priorities based on the same logic, we highlight some inconsistencies as to choices. To help ensure consistency of the process, a quantitative model based on an empirical analysis was developed, which can be used as an aid tool in identifying the highly or moderately specialized areas of the regions. To identify a measure able to analyse the resources available by region, and at the same time to recognise the prospects of long-term innovation, the research potential, the entrepreneurial fabric and the design capacity were chosen as research dimensions. Four thematic Specialization Indices were then built, then summarized in a single Specialization Index. The results of such Composite Index showed an imperfect correspondence with the choices of regional Administrations. In terms of policy, thiscomposite Index, elaborated in such study, can provide useful indications in the monitoring and evaluation phase of RIS3.