Caught Between Metropolises: The Smart Specialisation Challenge in Poland’s Lubusz Region

This article examines the relevance of Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) in structurally weak but non-peripheral regions, using Poland’s Lubusz Voivodeship as a case study. Based on employment data from 2009 and 2021, this study uses Location Quotient (LQ) analysis to evaluate the alignment between the region’s economic structure and its RIS3 domains: Innovative Industry, Health and Quality of Life, and Green Economy. The findings show that while Innovative Industry and Health and Quality of Life strengthened their relative specialisation, the Green Economy domain made only limited progress. Notably, sectors such as metal fabrication and social care services emerged as new specialisations, while several traditional industries declined. These results support the hypothesis that RIS3 priorities only partially reflect endogenous economic strengths, and they highlight the challenges of implementing innovation strategies in territorially fragmented and capacity-constrained regions. This article calls for dynamic priority reviews, improved multi-level coordination, and targeted instruments to better align RIS3 frameworks with the structural realities of “in-between” regions in the EU.