Reducing the distance between thinkers and doers in the entrepreneurial discovery process: An exploratory study

The existing gap between thinkers and doers is one of the main reasons behind the failure of the modern research system in the field of management, as many scholars suggest. Participatory, action research and experience-based methods are now attracting scholars as well as institutions who actively participate in improving the efficacy of policy-making. This study presents the work conducted by the JRC-IPTS of the European Commission in the Greek region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace for supporting the implementation of the region's Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3). The study presents the methodology based on participatory and experience-based methods and offers reflections on how to reduce the thinkers–doers gap.