Abstract:

A major component of the Smart Specialisation (SS) agenda is the monitoring of progress towards the achievement of the goals and development of tools to support the activities of stakeholders in entrepreneurial discovery. However, there are capacity and management challenges for many countries in measuring the progress of SS. High-quality data is crucial for transforming SS indicators into useful tools for developing national mission-oriented innovation policies as well as facilitating a European level monitoring of SS progress. The paper explores potential interventions to improve the implementation of data policy for SS and indicates that Innovation Capability Maturity Model can not only ensure high-quality data, but also standardise the key processes of public management around SS. The adoption and mainstreaming of ICMM may aid in mission-oriented assessments and articulate pathways towards the maturity of SS data for improving SS cycle.