S4 + and the Sustainability Dimension for a New Territorial Perspective

The European Commission has made sustainable development a central element of its growth strategy for the next few years. From an all-encompassing perspective, the European Green Deal (EGD) represents the EU’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the “Smart Specialization Strategy” (S3), and the attempt of the EU at a position of global leadership in sustainable development. This paper states that an effective innovation-oriented policy, including a sustainable dimension, requires an adequate division of labour between the EC, national and regional/local governance levels, and the shift from S3 to S4 +, a smart specialization sustainable strategy. It also underlines how a territorial approach to policies is suitable for incorporating a five-helix innovation model and is well suited for implementing S4 +. Therefore, the Ecological Transition, illustrated in the EGD, requires a new governance design and management attitude. This contribution proposes a framework for implementing the new EGD strategy and the consequent implementation of the sustainability dimension. Numerous challenges focus on the sub-regional level highlighting the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) as a tailored governance model that can include Sustainability and innovation in a complete democratic setting.