Innovation is considered a key driver for economic growth and is usually studied in the form of systems, with the regional level being arguably the most important. Despite constantly improving technological infrastructure, the human-related aspects of innovation are still the most important part of the innovation process. The human factor in innovation essentially consists of three components: (1) human capital, which refers to education, knowledge, and skills; (2) social capital, which refers to the strength of social links and social coherence; and (3) psychological capital, which refers to peoples' values, attitudes, and behaviors. The research findings confirmed this view and showed which specific indicators of the three types of capital had a significant impact on innovation output. A new, extended regional innovation scoreboard emphasizing the human factor, is proposed. Also, based on the findings, and bearing in mind current EU innovation policies, a number of measures are proposed in order to suggest "more human" smart specialization policies in order to increase innovation in European regions and coherence between them.

The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate that clusters can support the sustainable development of rural areas through the creation of shared value. This is done via the close exam-ination of six different cases of rural clusters in Greece, Italy, Germany, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden. Qualitative as well as quantitative data weretaken from the clusters, which demonstrated that their main business approaches naturally coincided with the creation of economic, social, and environmental benefits for the local communities in which they operated. The case clusters were created in a top-down manner, aimed at boosting regional R&D activities and making the local economy more competitive and more sustainable. However, private initiative took over and al-lowed these clusters to flourish because meeting the regions’ economic, social, and environmental needs successfully coincided with the target of the clusters’ own development and profitability. The results show that clusters, with their potential for shared value creation, can constitute a powerful engine for the revitalisation and development of rural areas, addressing the significant challenges which they are currently facing.

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Intellectual capital is an overarching concept that includes the intangible, human-related factors that are relevant to the innovation process, such as human capital and social capital. In the present study, intellectual capital was assessed by indicators measuring different aspects of human and social capital. Factor analysis demonstrated the existence of three underlying factors, with all variables of the model having important contributions to them. A linear regression analysis indicated that 8 out of the 12 variables of intellectual capital used have a statistically significant impact on the measure of innovation output. These findings were discussed and their implications for policy were considered. The paper provides research evidence on the importance of intellectual capital for innovation output and discusses potential ways to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the context of the next generation of sustainable smart specialisation strategies.

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