Smart Specialisation or smart following? A study of policy mimicry in priority domain selection
研究了欧洲地区在制定智能专业化战略时，选择优先经济领域的模仿现象，发现地区倾向于模仿邻国和国家战略的热门领域组合，而非完全基于自身优势指标。
This paper explores the phenomenon of mimicry in the selection of economic domains for Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) and discusses the regional policy implications of strategic mimicry. By analysing S3 documents from European regions, we identify and distinguish between two general types of mimicry: ‘follow the peers’ and ‘follow the role models’, against the more desirable ‘follow the indicators’ priority selection strategy. Our findings reveal that although regions rely on their strengths by following the crucial indicators, thus exhibiting non-mimetic behaviour, there is a stronger tendency for regions to mimic popular domain portfolios, particularly those chosen by neighbouring regions and national strategies. Understanding these patterns in the selection of priority domains helps decision-makers balance mimicry and diversification, promoting specialisation, new economic activities, and regional uniqueness.