Smart specialisation is a bottom-up framework
for regional development. Smart specialisation
emphasizes the role of universities, but the official strategies tend not to differentiate between
the needs of regions, regional clusters and universities. Such simplification often causes disparities between the actual and the planned
human resources of an area, potentially leading
to a waste of ‘smartness’. This article introduces
the Arctic Smartness program of Lapland and
the Älyke project of the University of Lapland
where teachers and students experimentally
participate in smart specialization. The article
explores the opportunities to develop the agency
of university students and teachers.
