A key to build sound innovation strategies for smart specialisation at the regional level is to identify opportunities for learning policy lessons and transferring practices from other regions. But what are the regions one should consider as a reference for these purposes? Our proposal is to start by identifying regions that share similar structural conditions which are relevant for innovation-driven development (social, economic, technological, institutional and geographical characteristics). That is, characteristics that cannot be easily changed in the short term and that are demonstrated to affect the way innovation and economic evolution take place in a region. Below you will find an interactive tool that allows you to identify reference regions across Europe based on a methodology jointly developed by Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness and the S3 Platform.
|
The 20 nearest regions to Saarland
(DEC) (regions within the same country are included in the comparison) |
Distance index |
|---|---|
| Rheinland-Pfalz - Germany (DEB) | 0.0234 |
| Bremen - Germany (DE5) | 0.0244 |
| Niedersachsen - Germany (DE9) | 0.0252 |
| Schleswig-Holstein - Germany (DEF) | 0.0254 |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - Germany (DE8) | 0.0263 |
| North East, England - United Kingdom (UKC) | 0.0312 |
| Hessen - Germany (DE7) | 0.0313 |
| País Vasco - Spain (ES21) | 0.0357 |
| Sachsen-Anhalt - Germany (DEE) | 0.0359 |
| Brandenburg - Germany (DE4) | 0.0362 |
| Baden-Württemberg - Germany (DE1) | 0.0380 |
| Hamburg - Germany (DE6) | 0.0382 |
| Moravskoslezsko - Czech Republic (CZ08) | 0.0387 |
| Thüringen - Germany (DEG) | 0.0388 |
| Walloon Region - Belgium (BE3) | 0.0396 |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen - Germany (DEA) | 0.0397 |
| Comunidad Foral de Navarra - Spain (ES22) | 0.0404 |
| Steiermark - Austria (AT22) | 0.0405 |
| Wales - United Kingdom (UKL) | 0.0443 |
| Bayern - Germany (DE2) | 0.0461 |