After having prepared the first draft of the Smart Specialisation Strategy (SSS) in 2013 and in light of the critical response of the European Commission and the public, the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy (GODC) decided to carry out another round of consultations which took place in the period between April and June 2014. The Strategy was amended and supplemented with empirical and technical bases. Through active dialogue with stakeholders, GODC received initiatives for identifying the areas where Slovenia has the potential to position itself on global markets in the long run. GODC was submitted 700 pages of business plans focusing on various technologies and partners of various spheres of society. Thus, a new draft of the SSS was prepared by the end of June 2014. The new draft was subject to two rounds of consultation, which took place in July and August 2014, and was, thus, coordinated at the inter-ministerial level.            

With the new version of the SSS, Slovenia wishes to further address the natural assets, base the development orientations on its specifics and support the achieved broader consensus of the public with regard to the vision of the green Slovenia.

 

The strategic objectives of the SSS are:

I.                    To develop Slovenia and build a reputation of an attractive and ecological country of innovation, focused on the development of medium- and high-tech and comprehensive solutions in clearly and strategically defined niche areas where Slovenia has capacities and competences to be positioned on the global market.

II.                  To establish superior, responsive, dynamic, strategically-guided, inclusive research, innovative and entrepreneurial eco-system connected to the world.

 

The achievement of the two strategic objectives requires particular emphasis to be put on the following priority areas over the medium term:

1.       Knowledge transfer and application

2.       Entrepreneurship, creativity and talent

3.       Internationalisation

 

SSS is thus based on:

• The SSS comprehensively addresses a broader range of development policies related to innovation, in particular the policy of promoting research and innovation, industrial policy, entrepreneurship as well as some parts of the education system, rural development policy, international relations and elsewhere where it proves to be necessary.

• The SSS addresses technological as well as non-technological innovations with specific emphasis being put on the model of “open and responsible innovation”, including social innovation.  

 

• The SSS is structured in a form of two pillars:

 

a)      The first one refers to the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem which, by its nature, should primarily be horizontal whereas its mission is to generate and promote new ideas to be developed through an entrepreneurial initiative by thus ensuring entrepreneurial growth and development. The key programmes under this pillar are:

1.       “Dynamic Slovenia” programme, which covers 12 measures for the promotion of Start-up entrepreneurship, and measures for the transfer of knowledge and technologies.    

2.       “Creative Slovenia” programme, which covers 5 clusters of measures for the educational system (especially for the promotion of creativity and entrepreneurship) and measures to bring together design and creative industries and other companies.   

3.       Regional entrepreneurial programmes, which cover the network of the supportive environment for entrepreneurship, measures to promote the growth of mature companies and measures in the field of social entrepreneurship.

 

b)      The second pillar of the SSS refers to value chains and networks where niche products and services are searched for in global processes and where critical mass is created for the global breakthrough on the basis of connecting excellent competences and potentials, which engages various players, disciplines and areas. In this segment, the focus is of key importance because scattered potentials in global competition cannot lead to success. The SSS identifies the following priority areas:

1.       SI_ndustry 4.0: Smart Factories

2.       Smart buildings and homes

3.       Smart cities and communities

4.       Smart use of resources

5.       Health

 

The abovementioned priorities are supported by 18 measures in the field of research, development and innovation, human resources development, with support in terms of internationalisation also being foreseen. Also a mechanism for establishing development partnerships for each of the priority areas is foreseen. In the framework of development partnerships, specific measures, which can among other this refer to amendments of legislation, specific support mechanisms and provision of support provided for in technical assistance, will be addressed.    

 

• The SSS does not address only the cities and related areas, but also the innovation potentials of rural areas.

 

The quantified objectives of the SSS are among others:

• Improved innovation performance measured by a synthesis indicator, Innovation Union Scoreboard: the objective is to raise the Innovation Index to the level of five most successful innovation followers (LU, NL, BE, UK, IE, AT), which means from the current 0.51 (EC, 2014) to 0.62 (ibid.) by 2020.

• A share of SMEs which, in the field of innovation, cooperate with other companies and/or PRO: According to the Commission’s figures, 2014, this share accounted for 13.6% in 2010, which is higher than the EU average (11.7%), however, by 2020, Slovenia will strive to bring it to the level of the average of the five most successful innovation followers equalling 17.9%.

• A share of SMEs which have introduced a product or process innovation: According to the Commission’s figures, 2014, this share equalled 32.6% in 2011, which is below the EU average (38.4). Slovenia will strive to bring it at least to the level of the average of the five most successful innovation followers equalling 42.2%.

• A share of high-tech intensive products in the export of goods: According to the data of IMAD, 2014b, this share amounted to 21.5% in 2012, and by 2020 Slovenia will strive to bring it at to the level of the EU-15 average equalling 27.6.

• A share of the export of knowledge-intensive services in total export: According to the Commission’s figures, 2014, this share equalled 21.4% in 2011, and by 2020 Slovenia will strive to halve the gap to the EU average totalling 45.3% - the objective is to raise this share to at least one third of the average.