This report seeks to examine how the Smart Specialisation approach was put into practice across European regions and Member States. It builds upon 35 implementation cases, outlining three main types of challenges that policy-makers are seeking to address through the implementation of their Smart Specialisation Strategies:

1) the involvement of stakeholders in a continuous dialogue to drive the territorial innovation process;

2) the development of efficient innovation policy instruments to support the structural transformation of the economy at regional and/or national level;

3) the pursuit of the internationalisation of the regional/national economy as well as the positioning in European value chains.

For each key challenge identified, the report sheds light on the success-conducive factors and tools that have been used by policy-makers to manage the Smart Specialisation policy process. It also underscores the recurring types of outcomes that were achieved thanks to the implementation of Smart Specialisation related policies. The study lays out a broad range of research and innovation support systems that have been developed and that have driven a) a wider implication of stakeholders in innovation projects; b) the articulation and better functioning of innovation ecosystem; c) the reinforcement of transnational cooperation in S3 priority domains, although joint investment is still a weak point at this stage.