Technological diversification and Smart Specialisation: the role of cooperation

Smart Specialisation is closely associated with the concept of diversification. For a better understanding of Smart Specialisation, this paper examines one little-explored explanatory factor of technological diversification: cooperation within and between regions. Using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) REGPAT data on co-applications for patents, the empirical analysis investigates the role of cooperation between organizations on technological diversification in 226 European regions over 10 five-year periods, 2000–13. Cooperation within and between regions emerges as an important determinant of regional diversification, but both forms of cooperation should evolve hand in hand – singly, each form may prove ineffective at boosting regional diversification.