European Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion and Regional Innovation Strategies: Overlapping and Synergies

This paper provides a first assessment of the relations between regional innovation strategies and the EU strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region (EUSAIR). EUSAIR was launched in 2014 to strengthen cooperation and help achieve economic and social cohesion in the area. Simultaneously, EU regions were asked to design innovation policies based on the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3). This paper analyses the theoretical underpinnings and actual integration between S3 and EUSAIR. The empirical analysis is based on the S3 documents and data about projects financed dur-ing the 2014-2020 programming period. The results show a low degree of overlapping between the two strategies.