Guide to Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation

production and distribution methods and adapt their business models accordingly. European
cultural and creative sectors are furthermore inherently fragmented along national and
linguistic lines, which make it difficult for them to operate transnationally within and outside
the EU and can lead to missed business opportunities. Cultural and creative sectors face
moreover difficulties in accessing the resources they need to finance their activities and adapt
to the digital shift and globalisation. This is in particular due to the intangible nature of many
of their assets; the prototype profile of their activities; their lack of investment-readiness as
well as the insufficient investor-readiness of financial institutions to support them.
However, in many regions, cultural and creative sectors constitute a major asset for the
economy, and building on this asset should be considered in national/regional research and
innovation strategies for smart specialisation. The challenge is to further integrate CCIs in this
context, promoting the emergence of 'creative ecosystems' throughout the EU, i.e. via the
development of a creative environment that promotes traditional cultural assets (cultural
heritage, touristic destinations, dynamic cultural institutions and services), stimulates the
development of creative businesses and supports spill-over effects into the local existing
industries and fuel development.
How to act?
The European Regional Development Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development can support such strategies. Member States and regions are invited to finance
their cultural and creative industries through investment priorities 103 closely linked to the
objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy.
A group of experts from Member States currently working on the 'strategic use of EU support
programmes, including structural funds, to foster the potential of culture for local and
regional development and the spill-over effects of CCIs on the wider economy', will provide in
early 2012 a policy handbook identifying good practices in this field that might prove very
useful for managing authorities, regional authorities and cultural sector operators. On this
basis, a joint EU-wide awareness raising initiative might be launched in 2012 by the
Commission and the Member States.
Over the years 2012-2015, the European Creative Industries Alliance 104 will support the CCIs
via concrete actions related to better business support, better access to finance and better
cluster excellence & cooperation. Furthermore, the Alliance will gather European, national
and regional policy makers in a Policy Learning Platform with the aim of raising the general
awareness of the CCIs, to draw practical knowledge from the concrete actions and to share
and exchange this better practice among Member States. The Alliance and its Policy Learning
Platform might prove another useful forum for managers of European Structural Funds and
regional and local authorities.
So far, the exchange of experience has shown that the following set of recommendations
might pave the way for using CCIs to design and implement a targeted implementation
strategy focused on the delivery of the Europe 2020 objectives. Although not exhaustive, it
103 Such as 'Promoting centres of competence'; 'Promoting clusters'; 'Developing ICT products and services';
'Promoting entrepreneurship'; 'Developing new business models for SMEs'; 'Improving the urban environment';
'Developing Business incubators'; 'Supporting the physical and economic regeneration of urban and rural areas
and communities', etc.
104 http://creativebusiness.org/themes/magazeen/favicon.ico
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