Leveraging smart specialisation strategies (RIS3) with service-based innovation: the case of the Canary Islands

Service based economies face significant challenges to drive innovation. These are even larger for distant and isolated regions, suffering from different market failures due to such circumstances. Capitalizing on smart specialization alongside with the transformative power of services, through the deployment of large-scale demonstrators, could be a sound policy option for many regions to turn structural weaknesses and threats into strengths and opportunities. The specific case of the Canary Islands, an outermost European region, is discussed in the context of its RIS3 Smart Specialisation Strategy.