The Pattern of Knowledge-Based Firms Development with the Smart Specialization Approach

The policy maker's goal at the macro level is to promote knowledge-based activities in different regions of the country and the balanced development of the provinces. The current study focuses on the concept of intelligent specialization with the aim of supporting knowledge-based companies and developing their activities. Based on this approach, innovative activities in the provinces should be focused on competitive advantages, potential capacities and value chains in the region.Therefore, this research emphasizes on supporting knowledge-based companies in accordance with the conditions of the region and with the aim of directing activities in the priority areas of the region. Focusing on Hormozgan province, this study has investigated the priority areas and advantages of the region through the study of official provincial documents, including Hormozgan province's plan document and the province's strategic problem-solving document. Then, through interviews with 21 activists in the field, it identified the challenges faced by knowledge-based companies. Thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data and by coding the concepts extracted from the interviews and policy texts, the meaningful pattern of the themes was determined based on the collected data.In the first step of the research, the priority and attractive areas of the province were determined. Then, the field of activity of knowledge-based companies was investigated and based on the attractiveness-capability matrix, areas of activity with high attractiveness, high ability, and high attractiveness, low ability were identified. The results showed that the development of knowledge-based activities in the region requires that things like facilitating the licensing of active companies in priority areas, helping to complete the supply chain in the relevant area, justifying actors to support companies in emphasized areas and using the knowledge of other provinces in relevant areas should be followed up.