National and regional S3s: organisation and governance

In Croatia, STI and regional competences are exclusively at the national level. Croatia has only a national Smart Specialisation Strategy. The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Science and Education, in charge of science and research, co-chair the National Innovation Council (established in 2018), the governance body of S3 in Croatia, which provides strategic direction and comprises top-level representatives of the institutions involved. At the operational level, a Technical Secretariat, an Inter-ministerial Working group representing the main governmental stakeholders and three advisory councils support the National Innovation Council. The Inter-ministerial Working Group is tasked with coordinating the system on a daily basis. The three advisory councils include the Innovation Council for Industry; the National Council for Science, Higher Education and Technology Development; and the National Council for Development of Human Potential. At the bottom-up level, the entrepreneurial discovery process has a specific governance structure, grouped into Thematic innovation Platforms, including Thematic innovation Councils, Priority Action Groups, and Croatian Competitiveness Clusters. The S3 governance structure implies that innovation policy is suborndinate to the S3 rather than S3 being integrated into innovation policy.

For information on regional S3s, please return to the homepage: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/assets/s3-observatory/index_en.html