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This paper which was commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications during the current Swedish EU presidency aims to identify and discuss some of the most important territorial potentials in the European Union. According to the EU Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion, the territorial diversity of European regions is a vital asset in economic development and competitiveness. The purpose of EU Cohesion Policy at the European level is to contribute to the Lisbon and Gothenburg objectives for growth, jobs and sustainable development. More specifically, the Cohesion Policy should promote the cohesion of the EU-territory by improving the use of all available resources in Europe's regions. The concept of territorial potential relates to numerous factors. These factors can be divided into tangible assets, such as natural and human resources, and intangible assets, like organisation, culture, social issues and governance. Un-mobilised territorial assets constitute territorial potentials that may be realised through policies and actions at various administrative levels. Seen against the backdrop of the deepest global economic slowdown in generations the identification of regional potentials and, furthermore, the elaboration of strategies and policies that might enable and facilitate the European regions to fully exploit these potentials, is more important than ever. To strengthen competitiveness one of the main challenges facing policy-makers and other concerned actors across the regions of Europe is to identify and mobilise the territorial potentials necessary for the creation of new jobs and sustainable economic growth. Understanding the nature of territorial potentials requires a process of analysing access to different types of resources in order to gain a more detailed knowledge of the economic base of the region. However, it also requires a regional process for prioritising and coordinating relevant stakeholders and policy-fields in order to implement the necessary policy initiatives.

In the aftermath of the latest economic crises, the concept of "Smart specialisation" was presented to increase the efficiency in European investments in research, innovation and entrepreneurship. As the concept is relatively new, the level of implementation at national and regional level in the Nordic countries is rather limited. Still, many of the elements associated with strategies for "Smart specialisation" have already been implemented in the Nordic countries. This paper explores the impact and early implementation of the new concept "Smart specialisation" in regional policy in the Nordic Countries. The study was commissioned by the Nordic Working Group on Third Generation Regional Policy, initiated by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The review is mainly based on a previous literature review and desk research, with a limited number of supplementing interviews, and does not claim to give a complete overview. Since the development of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) is expected to be an ex-ante condition in the new Structural Funds 2014-2020 program period, the concept has reached a high level of attention in a short time span among EU member states. The objective of "Smart specialization" is to ensure an effective use of public funds. Based on an understanding of regional strengths, regions are expected to concentrate resources to a few key priorities rather than spreading investments thinly across areas and business sectors. This requires a well-developed regional governance process, based on broad stakeholder involvement, as well as collaboration between actors at various levels as well as linkages between policy areas, sectors and disciplines. The review indicates that the level of implementation at national and regional level in the Nordic countries is rather limited, even if the interest has increased, particularly among actors responsible for implementation of the new Cohesion Policy in the Nordic EU-member states. However, while Finland seems to have come closest to implement the concept, Swedish authorities are more inclined to talk about smart growth. In Denmark, there seems to be some skepticism at the national as well as regional level and the non-member states, Iceland and Norway, have only started to approach the concept. Even if the concept as such is new, many of the elements of strategies for "Smart specialisation" have already been implemented in the Nordic countries. This indicates that there is a strong potential for Nordic regions, building on existing strategies and policy delivery instruments. Still, there are some aspects which may further strengthen regional development processes in the future: Regional capacity for analysis of economic potential in relation to other regions, within or outside the country Incentives for increased involvement of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), entrepreneurs and representatives of the general public (quadruple helix) Improved dialogues between different levels Increased participation of SMEs in global value chains and EU research programmes, such as Horizon 2020