Toward a New Impact Assessment Approach of Smart Specialization Strategies Using Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis

Smart specialization is directly linked with regional economic transformation, which is the true structural change that leads to regional economic growth, welfare, and competitiveness. However, the concept of smart specialization is relatively new, and its resulting economic transformation is a long process. Consequently, the impact in most cases has not been observed yet. This article aims to review different assessment approaches that evaluate the impact of Smart Specialization Strategies and propose a new assessment framework. The presented literature review considers impact assessment methods having different objectives, perspectives, and focus. The proposed approach is based on the ‘‘3P’’ framework that considers three critical factors of a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem: posture, propensity, and performance (outputs, outcomes, and impacts). In the context of the ‘‘3P’’ framework, a set of pillars, dimensions, and indicators is also proposed, offering a balanced set of entrepreneurship metrics. The proposed framework is consistent with the smart specialization architecture, and it may be linked with the quadruple Helix model. An illustrative example of the ‘‘3P’’ framework using a multiple criteria decision analysis approach is also presented.