Smart Specialisation and learning regions as a competitive strategy for less developed regions

This editorial presents the Regional Studies special issue entitled 'Smart Specialisation and Learning Regions as a Competitive Strategy for Less Developed Regions', which promotes theoretical and empirical research on Smart Specialisation Strategies in less developed regions, highlighting the role of collaborative networks, regional development policies and governance models to extant new theoretical conceptualizations within this field. This special issue includes a set of eight papers, and it is our expectation that it contributes to the advancement of our understanding of the field, catalyses further attention, and helps to identify future challenges and the research agenda.