National authorities will give a presentation of their respective smart specialization strategies (S3) and discuss international collaboration between individual stakeholders at the national, regional, local and entrepreneurial level, as well as between knowledge institutions that are engaged in entrepreneurial discovery processes.

The two-day workshop will also focus on the first pillar of the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-regional Strategy – Blue Growth. Ongoing projects that importantly contribute to Blue Growth in the Adriatic will be presented. On the Slovenian side, two Strategic Research and Innovation Partnerships – Networks for the Transition into Circular Economy and Sustainable Food Production - will be presented. Additionally, the representatives of the Jozef Stefan Institute and the National Institute of Chemistry will talk about the projects PanoramaMed and PlanetCare; the two projects aim to foster international cooperation in the field of smart specialization and support Blue Growth in the Adriatic.

The workshop was attended by the representatives of the countries in the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-region, the representatives of the European Commission – DG REGIO and DG MARE as well as by the representatives of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Seville that, working closely with sister services of the European Commission, monitors the development and implementation of smart specialization strategies in EU countries and regions.

While this event is the first of its kind to focus on cooperation between smart specialization actors, the participants have made a commitment it will not be the last one, convinced it will feature on the agenda of future Mediterranean Coast and Macro-regional Strategies Weeks.  

The event has been organized in cooperation with the strategic project EUSAIR Facility Point whose Lead Partner in the region is Slovenia's Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy.