David Charles was invited to give a talk on 'Lessons for regions from the new EU smart specialisation strategies' at the EU Centre at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia on the 25th February.
The presentation was followed by a discussion with Mats Williams another visitor to Melbourne who has been involved in developing and supporting clusters in Varmland, Sweden, and with Professor Steve Garlick, Conjoint Professor, University of Newcastle (NSW), Australia an expert on Australian regional development and advisor to the OECD on universities and regional engagement.
The discussion sought to identify the relevance of smart specialisation in the territorial and institutional context of Australia, and made comparisons with regional development strategies there.