Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the smart economic development (SED) patterns in Europe in relation to competitiveness. Motivational focus corresponds to global events: the fourth industrial revolution, transition to a low-carbon economy, economic shocks (such as the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit or the coronavirus pandemic), which requires rethinking development policies, targeting competitiveness increase and reducing imbalances in economic development.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis includes self-organising neural networks cluster analysis and correlations, comparative analysis of SED indicators structure and cumulative index estimation with World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness index. The panel data set of 19 years from 2000 to 2018 for 30 European countries.

Findings

Overall, cross-country examination suggests that European countries of higher competitiveness illustrate higher estimates in SED. The key determinants are juridical fairness, social responsibility, competence building, intelligence and welfare employment to develop smart patterns for reaching higher competitiveness.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations relate to the particular sample of European countries and gathering statistical data and a methodology of the SED index calculation. In addition, the paper contains a macroeconomic environment focus on competitiveness estimation. Further research may be improved with micro and mezzo environment incorporation at a cross-country analysis level.

Practical implications

By linking well-known terms of competitiveness and economic development with a concept of smartness, new approaches to policymaking emerged. The methodology presented in this paper has implications for territorial cohesion policies, competitiveness and branching strategies. The combination of SED sub-indexes and WEF GCI might aid a more accurate ex ante measurement.

Social implications

The findings are essential for fostering a smart approach in economic development for long-term competitiveness.

Originality/value

This paper provides original empirical evidence about the relationship between SED and competitiveness and adds new knowledge that smartness becomes a way for building countries’ competitiveness by identified two profiles of SED patterns by development stages, namely, integrated to economic development and institutional-based which is divided to focus and balanced.

中文翻译：

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欧洲智能经济发展模式：与竞争力的互动

目的

本文旨在研究欧洲与竞争力相关的智能经济发展 (SED) 模式。动机焦点对应于全球事件：第四次工业革命、向低碳经济转型、经济冲击（例如 2008 年金融危机、英国脱欧或冠状病毒大流行），这需要重新思考发展政策，瞄准提高竞争力和减少不平衡经济发展。

设计/方法/方法

分析包括自组织神经网络聚类分析和相关性、SED指标结构的比较分析以及与世界经济论坛（WEF）全球竞争力指数的累积指数估计。欧洲 30 个国家 2000 年至 2018 年 19 年的面板数据集。

调查结果

总体而言，跨国调查表明，竞争力较高的欧洲国家在 SED 中的估计值较高。关键决定因素是司法公正、社会责任、能力建设、智力和福利就业，以开发智能模式以实现更高的竞争力。

研究限制/影响

这些限制与欧洲国家的特定样本以及收集统计数据和 SED 指数计算方法有关。此外，本文还包含一个关注竞争力估计的宏观经济环境。通过在跨国分析层面上结合微观和中层环境，可以改进进一步的研究。

实际意义

通过将众所周知的竞争力和经济发展术语与智能概念联系起来，出现了新的决策方法。本文提出的方法对领土凝聚政策、竞争力和分支战略具有影响。SED 子指数和 WEF GCI 的组合可能有助于更准确的事前测量。

社会影响

研究结果对于在经济发展中促进长期竞争力的明智方法至关重要。

原创性/价值

本文提供了关于 SED 与竞争力之间关系的原始经验证据，并通过确定不同发展阶段的 SED 模式的两种概况，即与经济发展相结合和以制度为基础，增加了智慧成为建设国家竞争力的一种方式的新知识。分为重点和平衡。