SMART SPECIALIZATION AS AN ESSENTIAL STRATEGY FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT IN A CONTEXT OF AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

A key component of efforts to support the economic environment in order to identify solutions to counteract the effects of a potential economic recession is the intelligent specialization, an innovative strategy for economic transformation at regional and local level. The prospect of facing an economic downturn highlights a clear need to support entrepreneurial initiatives, namely a bold approach to increase the costs associated with investments in innovation and research as these are the basic elements that can stimulate a return to growth. In the process of entrepreneurial discovery start-up companies are obviously in the best position to identify new opportunities, respectively in developing solutions, by combining strengths, taking risks, looking for new ideas along the value chain, needed to identify and implement innovative solutions and thus to generate jobs and growth. This paper aims to study the role of smart specialization in identifying solutions that can be used to support the entrepreneurial initiative as a central role for the economic recovery. The present paper is of current interest as the chances of a worldwide economic crisis to occur are considerable and a high level of entrepreneurial development through intelligent specialization can lead to the reduction of its effects.