The BAK S3 Association launches the third Massive Open Online Course on Smart Specialisation Strategies starting 7 October 2019. About the course The course enrolment is free. The course offers an overview of the concept and methods to design and apply smart specialisation strategies. The lecturers Prof Dominique Foray (EPFL) and Martin Eichler (BAK Economics) will use theories and case studies to explain the practice and implementation of a smart specialisation strategy. Hereby the MOOC is proud to present that among others Peter Berkowitz will inform the participants on the S3 lessons learned from the past and on new regulations. Smart Specialisation has had an immense impact in Europe and then beyond after the European Council’s decision to adopt smart specialisation as an essential principle of European regional policies. The smart specialisation concept involves both a general innovation policy concept and a method designed to operationalise this concept. This method enables regions to design a regional innovation policy, to encourage the emergence and growth of innovation microsystems in the selected sectors. It means identifying the unique characteristics and assets of each region and thus highlighting each region’s true competitive advantages and unique potential. However, smart specialisation requires a substantial amount of knowledge in order to be designed and successfully implemented. It is there, where our MOOC wants to set the focus. The goal is to stimulate enthusiasm for innovation in each of the participants regions, developing creative structures and finding out the most potential. Find more information in the attached documents.   Registration and more information are available here.