Smart Specialisation Strategy

European Union requires its member states and their regions to look into their competitive strengths and define a ”Smart specialisation strategy”. Smart specialisation strategies further define and implement EU priorities that strive towards a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy with high employment, productivity and social cohesion by the year 2020. At the EU level Smart specialisation is fundamentally about allocating investments more effectively, obtaining more measurable results from innovation work, developing better administration and including social partners more tightly to policy implementation.

In Tampere Region Smart specialisation is equally and specifically about identifying and promoting new ways of working and doing things, coupled with cultural changes and capabilities, that will be important for the region, its companies, organisations and inhabitants in the future perspective. For Tampere Region its Smart specialisation strategy highlights the issues that set it apart from other regions that serve as alluring expert workforce and investment capital and that can serve as basis for constructing selected, profound and long-lasting partnerships. Smart specialisation in Tampere Region is primarily meant to improve the competitive edge, value producing capability and crisis endurance of the manufacturing industry in the region as well as to renew its business models. In addition, a productivity leap in service production is targeted by producing and utilizing radical service innovations.

Smart specialisation spearheads in Tampere Region include:
1) Renewal of manufacturing industry
2) Smart city themes
3) Bio and health branches

These are developed with research and innovation activities focused particularly on advanced manufacturing (products, product development, production technologies) wellbeing research, health  and biotechnology (human spare parts and artificial senses), optics and photonics, signal processing, intelligent traffic and smart services,  intelligent and eco-efficient construction and energy branch (renewable energy, cleantech).

The Smart specialisation strategy of Tampere Region is included and embedded in the regional strategy, named ”Bold… but suits you!” and accepted in May 2014. The implementation of the strategy builds up in cooperation between several instruments, actors and financial forms. Main resources are provided by TEKES (The Finnish funding agency of innovation), Structural Funds, Finnish INKA program and investments made by municipalities and companies.

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