Smart Specialisation (S3) is the EU’s place-based innovation policy designed to help regions identify and build on their unique strengths, ensuring that investments focus on areas with the greatest potential for growth and competitiveness. By linking regional priorities with European strategic objectives, S3 fosters cooperation across borders and accelerates the uptake of innovation. The S3 Community of Practice and its Thematic Partnerships are central to this approach, creating powerful platforms that connect regions, clusters, SMEs and investment opportunities. These initiatives provide fertile ground to innovate, collaborate, and scale, while aligning with EU ambitions for industrial transformation and resilience. Specialisation can also be expressed on national or interregional networks. We will exlore this based on the example of the Competence Center on Creative and Cultural Economy of the German Government.

This webinar, organised by the MetaHeritage project on 6 November from 10:00 – 11:00 CET, explored how SMEs can leverage networks to access funding, join interregional value chains, and contribute to future innovation roadmaps. Practical examples illustrated how businesses can leverage regional cooperation.

For SMEs, the S3 approach can help:

• Positioning your business in regional priorities that attract EU and local funding.
• Joining cross-border value chains in your sector.
• Collaborating on joint investment projects with other EU regions.
• Influencing future innovation roadmaps in your industry.

This webinar was the first session of the MetaHeritage Webinar Series: Unlocking EU Networks for Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Digital Innovation.

Webinar Documentation

Please find here the slides of the event.

Watch the recording of the webinar: