Abstract

n the European Union (EU), numerous regions have implemented the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) to develop sub-national innovation systems based in public-private-academic networks. Since 2010, seeking to advance towards a more horizontal partnership with Chile, several middle and high-income countries in Latin America, the EU (through the DG REGIO program) established Regional Policy Dialogues (RPDs) to promote a mutual learning process based in the European experience in sub-national innovation, promoting a bottom-up methodology based in the entrepreneurial discovery process that involves stakeholders in the definition of priority sectors. Using the ideational perspective of policy translation, this chapter analyses how the bottom-up nature of the European S3 strengthened EU-LAC cooperation through RPDs with Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and SICA. The period from 2007 to 2012 is exploratory and ends with the designation of CELAC as the official counterpart of the EU and the RPD as the preferred mechanism for decentralised bilateral cooperation. The DG REGIO established five RPDs between 2013 and 2016; since 2017, the DG REGIO has consolidated and structured decentralised cooperation as a city / region partnering program based in technical assistance and visits. Even when changes in funding priorities of Latin American governments have affected greater continuity, EU-CELAC cooperation has prioritised S3 in their action plans.