Smart Specialisation as a Mission-driven Policy: Towards a New Governance Paradigm? Evidence from a Cross-country Comparative Study

This article discusses the different responses by regional and national governments to the adoption of a new mission-driven approach to policy governance. It does so by focusing on the experience of the European Union (EU) regional innovation policy for Smart Specialisation as a unique testbed to obtain EU-wide comparable evidence on the implementation of place-based missions. By combining in an original way the analytical lenses of mission-driven governance with the administrative tradition approach, and using an unprecedented wealth of case study evidence from across the EU, the study explores the governance features underpinning the implementation of Smart Specialisation strategies and assesses their strength and weaknesses, providing novel empirical and theoretical insights about what it takes to implement missions at a subnational scale.