Call for special sessions proposals for 2018 SMARTER Conference on Smart Specialisation and Territorial Development (Deadline 17 May)

On 26-28 September 2018 the 2018 SMARTER Conference on Smart Specialisation and Territorial Development: Implementation across global networks of regions, cities and firms will take place in Seville (Spain) and will be co-organised by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the Regional Studies Association European Foundation (RSA Europe).  At the moment there are two calls open, one for special sessions proposals, one for submission of abstracts. The deadline for both calls is set for 17th May.  Submission of complete special session proposals Proposals including the list of 3-4 speakers with their affiliations and their abstracts should be submitted by the prospective organizer(s) who will commit to promoting the paper submission process of their special session and chair or co-chair the session during the conference. Prospective organizers of special sessions should submit proposals indicating: Title of the session. Name(s) of organizer(s). Affiliation of the organizer(s). Email of main contact person Description of the Special Session (in the form of a 500/1000- word outline highlighting the motivation and relevance for smart specialisation) Potential participants (name, affiliation, title of the contributions and abstracts when available) Long abstracts of each proposed paper (500-1000 words, text only, no pictures, graphs or tables, structured in the following sections: Motivation/objectives; Main research question(s); Methodology; Results; Implications and discussion; Resources/references) Themes of interest to the conference may include: Smart specialisation from design to implementation: lessons, challenges, opportunities, experiences and early results Methods for monitoring and evaluation Territorial economic analysis in support of smart specialisation Smart specialisation, global value chains, and production networks Urban challenges and strategies for innovation and development Trans-regional and trans-national cooperation Models of regional and multi-level governance The Entrepreneurial Discovery Process and stakeholder involvement The actors of smart specialisation: research organisations, businesses, public actors, civil society groups Smart specialisation experiences worldwide Submission of abstracts Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a long abstract (500-1000 words, text only, no pictures, graphs or tables) structured in the following sections: Motivation/objectives; Main research question(s); Methodology; Results; Implications and discussion; Resources/references. Both, paper and complete special session proposals should be sent through the Regional Studies Association online portal at https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge/Meetings/Meeting?ID=194 by Thursday 17th May 2018. More info on the conference and the open calls is to be found here.