**3. S3: how far do place and space matter?**

The importance of a site-specific and context-related approach is at the forefront of the current cohesion policy reform, since in 2009 the "Barca report" was released. Following an intense discussion, nurtured by three thematic hearings, one workshop and five policy seminars involving 80 both EU and non EU experts, this report clarifies that a possible failure in the European policies is due to a lack of *place-based* approach, thus advocating for the opposite, i.e.: "A place-based policy is a long-term strategy aimed at tackling persistent underutilisation of potential and reducing persistent social exclusion in specific places through external interventions and multilevel governance. It promotes the supply of integrated goods and services tailored to contexts, and it triggers institutional changes. In a place-based policy, public interventions rely on local knowledge and are verifiable and submitted to scrutiny" [25].

kind of clusters, perhaps those that are more relying on innovation? Can we measure this

If cooperation is based on mutual trust, personal knowledge and social reputation, in some cases the scale of proximity requested for activating successful clusters overlaps with the scale of the proximity necessary to enable successful social activation processes. Cluster theory mainly rests on the opportunity for up-scaling economic mechanisms, thus creating advan‐ tages for the participating companies, and, in addition to it, also on shared knowledge and exchange of competences within a given network, while this latter is central in social innova‐ tion mechanisms and in S3. In facts, the geography of clusters overlaps with the labour markets, and—typically—cluster analysis and clusters data gathering are conducted at a regional scale. The innovation component, essential in the social innovation process and in S3, can be optional in clusters, ideally—but not *necessarily* innovative. These and other similarities and differences are systematically discussed in a recent report commissioned by the DG Research of the European Commission and produced by a group on independent experts chaired by Ketels. In particular, the most important differences between clusters and S3 follow: "S3 focuses on specific innovation-intensive sectors while clusters apply to a broader set of sectors in the economy. S3 aims to exploit emerging linkages between economic activities that can cut across traditional cluster boundaries…. The explicit goal of cluster policies is often to enhance the performance of existing clusters(…). Clusters are potential elements of a regional innovation eco-system, while S3 are wider policies aimed at transforming this eco-system. Clusters can come close to "smart specialisation domains" if they stimulate new types of knowledge

spillovers with a high leverage effect on the growth path of the economy" [8].

and innovators)" [19]. As in S3, also in cluster policy the whole context matters.

The importance of a site-specific and context-related approach is at the forefront of the current cohesion policy reform, since in 2009 the "Barca report" was released. Following an intense

**3. S3: how far do place and space matter?**

Several attempts have been made in the cluster literature to find out a possible taxonomy; however, in knowledge-intensive clusters, the triple helix concept (referred to the relationship between universities, enterprises and government) is essential. As Porter has been highlighting since 1990, four intertwined factors concur to the creation of a competitive environment for companies, depicted in the form of a diamond. This combination works in two ways, since investing in public good, always seen as a typically public activity, becomes important for the private sector itself [23]. In an ecosystem approach, private *vs* public interests' boundaries finally blur. The same concept of producing social services as a matter of business is gaining growing interest in the private sector [24]. The multiple actors involved with different roles in supporting the economic growth depict the complexity of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, from which S3 should stem. As stated by Foray and Goenaga, those who are asked to promote S3 by discovering "the domains of R&D and innovation in which a region is likely to excel given its existing capabilities and productive assets", are "entrepreneurs in the broader sense (innovative firms, research leaders in higher education institutions, independent inventors

proximity?

184 Sustainable Urbanization

By supporting a territorial based approach, the "Barca report" suggests to ground the reform on pillars, consistent with the S3 approach, such as including the promotion of a learning process, of experimentalism, of mobilisation of local actors. The similarity between the locallygrounded approach of S3 and the place-based approach stemming from the Barca position, converging towards a *non-neutral* approach, has been highlighted by Foray [26]. The position expressed in the "Barca report" has been framed within the current debate between *spatiallyblind vs place-based* approach in policy implementation. According to Barca et al. [27], a spatially-blind approach is that supported by the World Bank's report [28], that recommends to design policies without taking in consideration space, in order to ensure efficiency, equal opportunities and improvement of the life conditions, as well as it is spatially-blind the Sapir et al. report [29], that recommends to pay little attention to the sub-national scale. Under the second approach, the place-based one, in addition to the Barca Report and among others, it is possible to include in particular the OECD [30] position, that recommends a region- specific perspective capable to unleash assets and to exploit synergies.

More in depth [27], in the place-based approach it is essential to consider the interaction between institutions and geography in order to understand the best policy options for a given territory. Moreover, also the impacts of a policy should be assessed by considering those two factors, thus requiring tackling both the regional and the local context.

In terms of governance, the importance of a closer level of proximity to the local assets and knowledge leads to the inadequacy of the national scale in capturing appropriate policies, more specifically: "(…) by acknowledging the limits of the central state to design good local development policies, place-based strategies recognise the need for intervention based on partnerships between different levels of governance" [27].

Since the early documents on the spatial perspective of European policies, culminating in the 1999 European Spatial Development Perspective [31], the importance of a spatially-led perspective in European policies has been advocated from different authors since long time and the debate is still relevant [32, 33]. The spatial perspective is the physical setting for enabling place-based policies grounded in the specific territories. A lack of territoriality even interferes with a transparent exercise of democracy [34], thus, far from being a merely geographic concept, space and territory are real and proper enablers of context specific policies and related implementation. Moreover, because in the current EU programming period the concept of *territoriality* is embedded within important and innovative policy instruments, such as the Integrated Territorial Investments and the Community-Led Local Development, gaps in a place-based approach would undermine the effective implementation of new instruments holding a high potential of unleashing context specific assets. A better awareness of the governance within place-based S3 could support the creation of effective network of stake‐ holders for the Community Local Led Development strategies implementation, an innovative approach in the ESRF and ESF programmes implementation drawn from the LEADER approach and not yet fully developed outside the rural contexts. Despite of their strong roots in a place-based approach, S3 are still far from being clearly spatial-led strategies. This may depend on the original conceptualisation of S3, developed from a spatial idea [35]. It can be therefore problematic to translate them into genuine place-based policies, reflecting a consis‐ tent social innovation based institutional framework, particularly in those regions, still lacking in clear and updated spatial frameworks.

In order to fill this gap, a research programme has been proposed and accepted for grant under the Horizon 2020 programme, namely MAPS-LED (Multidisciplinary Approach to Plan Smart specialisation strategies for Local Economic Development) [36]. This program, run by a consortium of 6 universities in EU and in the US aims in particular at connecting three important key-factors including: (1) Governance—both in cluster policies and in terms of embeddedness; (2) Localization—as spatial and place-based approach; (3) Territorial network —as innovative milieu supporting social innovation, also based on urban-rural links. The project is building a novel methodology to assess and exploit the potential of different clusters, networks and chains in shaping spatially-led S3 policies for local economic development through a spatial-led approach. After having explored the potential of S3 both through spatial planning (city-region and S3) and regional economy (cluster policy, territorial milieu and S3), the project will develop and test a tailored evaluative tool suitable to capture the socioeconomic spillovers of S3. By understanding how S3 can be translated and implemented into spatially-oriented local development policies, in line with the territorial agenda of Europe 2020 incorporating a place-based dimension, the expected results are: (1) to identify and examine S3 in terms of spatial, social and environmental factors; (2) to take into account local needs and opportunities driving regional policy interventions not only to emphasise "Key Enable Technologies", but also to empower local innovation process—tacit knowledge, embedded social networks, innovative milieu; (3) to build and test an evidence-based methodology for recognizing and assessing emerging and potential S3, corroborated by successful factors of existing clusters [36].
