Strategie per l'innovazione e città. Idee dalla Boston Area

The origin of the European policy renowned ‘Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization’ (RIS3) dates back to the academic literature examining the so called ‘transatlantic productivity gap’ between EU and US economies in the last decades. The Information and Communication Technology sector (ICT) boosted the US productivity growth more than in Europe where the support of new technologies for innovation was scarce. In order to tackle the gap and launch a knowledge-intensive growth model, the EU designed RIS3, within its Europe 2020 Agenda, which aims to promote local innovation processes in particular sectors and technological domains through a bottom-up identification of specific ‘innovation patterns’. Across US the most intriguing interpretation of ‘Smart Strategies’ and the emerging model that embodies the idea of recreate an innovative urban ecosystem is well represented by the concept of ‘Innovation District’, a geographic area where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators, and accelerators. The city of Boston represents a paradigmatic case of successful integration between innovation and city growth, thanks to the alignment between urban development initiatives and exploitation of the potential of innovation- related growth.