ABSTRACT
European regions are facing many important challenges, as the need to recover from the pandemic coincides with the need to carry out the green and digital transitions foreseen in the European Green Deal, making the task harder, especially for less-developed regions. The paper considers making use of regional intellectual capital in the context of smart specialisation strategies (S3) as the most effective way to address these challenges and achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This is viewed through a closer look at two specific cases of Greek regions that are behind the EU mean in terms of development and innovation: Central Macedonia and Western Macedonia. Development trends, available intellectual capital and current smart specialisation strategies in these regions are examined. These result in concrete, evidence-based suggestions on how they can make maximum use of intellectual capital for the next generation of smart specialisation strategies to achieve growth via a focus on more innovative and sustainable activities.