Abstract
This study identifies the conditions necessary to promote the integration of low socioeconomically disadvantaged minorities in mixed majority-minority regions into technological entrepreneurship and high-tech activities, and how the smart specialization model can be adapted to these situations. This study was conducted in Israel and focused on the mixed region of Beersheva-Rahat and the surrounding Bedouin dispersion, where the minority population is ranked extremely low on the socioeconomic scale. The findings indicate that in mixed regions with a minority population that is ranked very low on the socioeconomic scale and has low level of readiness for technological entrepreneurship and high-tech activities, a pre-preliminary-phase is needed in order for smart specialization to work – a phase in which educational and training infrastructures are improved and the population gains awareness of its own potential for future integration in the high-tech sector. This phase constitutes an addition to the smart specialization model. The study findings also point to the important role of the local and regional entrepreneurial initiatives in improving the minority population readiness to take part in that technological entrepreneurship and high-tech activities. The study employs qualitative methodology using in-depth interviews. The study findings have a theoretical and practical contribution by expanding the smart specialization model for implementation in mixed majority-minority regions with a population that ranks very low on the socioeconomic scale, while showing the need for preliminary phases and for governmental policy tools that promote these pre-phases.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2021 Special Focus: Critical Thinking, Soft Skills, and Technology
KEYWORDS
Smart, Specialization, Mixed, Regions, Integration, Minorities, Entrepreneurship
