Integration conditions and „new” development and management possibilities of regional structures – the importance of smart specialization

Purpose: The main goal of the study is to document and attempt to assess the impact of the latest European Union development strategy, i.e. Europe 2020 Strategy. It is inextricably linked to smart specialization, development and competitive capabilities of regions of EU member states. The partial goals are: • presenting Europe 2020 Strategy in the context of setting goals and management areas for regional policy which is part of multi-level transnational structure management in EU the Europe 2020 Strategy setting goals and management for regional policy and region will be described; • presenting smart specialization as a result of the development of integration conditions and determining new opportunities, challenges, decision-management orders for EU regions. Design/methodology/approach: At work, the authors mainly use source materials of European Commission, as well as foreign language studies which are also based on source material from EU institutions. Sometimes the authors had to use archival materials to take into account the value and sense of the latest integration conditions. Findings: The work mainly shows the links between: Europe 2020 Strategy, regional policy, regions of member states, smart specialization, guidelines for multi-level management in an international structure, and practicalisation of a development strategy. Practical implications: A member country of an integration group (EU) should be viewed in the context of an international structure and multi-level governance (including decision-making). The consequences of that concern the impact on the member state, on the regions, on other entities in the regions. This is mainly about implementation of knowledge, environmental protection, quality of human capital. Changes (or actually adaptations) also apply to socio-economic development. Social implications: The analyzes, documentation and authors’ suggestions regarding mutual dependencies and connections carried out here, have an undoubted impact on society. Europe 2020 Strategy has a social dimension in all its assumptions. And they concern intelligent growth, sustainable growth, but also (above all) the growth of social integration. Originality/value: The study has values of originality because it goes beyond the collected materials and their presentation. The collected materials were used to capture relationships and interrelationships. A development strategy and smart specialization were used to present the latest integration conditions. Then, these conditions were presented as guidelines for multi-level governance and, consequently, for the competitiveness of European Union and its regions in the global economy.