in these value chains. In the future, Jordan should use the partnerships to become the platform for digital innovation by being an innovation creating center for digital solutions driven by these strong partnerships. In this regard, Jordan has a long and solid relationship with the US, with a large diaspora situated in the US and GCC. This relationship could be further utilized to leverage high-level strategic partnerships with clear task leaders and milestones, although it requires clear tasks and owners. PRODUCING SPECIALIZED ICT TALENT, BUILDING ON ENTREPRENEURIAL DRIVE & IMAGINATION One of Jordan’s strong differentiators is the country’s talent, entrepreneurial drive and imagination. Being a country of limited natural resources, Jordan’s main strength lies in its human capital, and the entrepreneurial drive and imagination among the country’s population is being highlighted as one of the country’s major strengths. Good human capital is particularly found among professionals with some years of work experience. However, skills are a two-edged sword in Jordan. While Jordanian ICT specialists are increasingly being hired in other countries in the region, for instance in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, there are still barriers to overcome with regard to higher education modernization, in particularly curriculum relevance to the industry, and modes of cooperation between university and industry. These barriers are of a nature so that they can be addressed and a modernization process can be set fully in motion within a relatively short period. DRIVING SMART, DEMAND-DRIVEN DIGITAL INNOVATION ACROSS KEY SECTORS Smart specialization entails innovative combinations of existing and latent resources in new ways, which can be enabled further by digital technologies to create outreach and scale with new types of services. Addressing the issue of specialization in R&D and innovation is particularly crucial for regions/countries that are not leaders in any of the major science or technology domains.24 Leading benchmark countries such as the UK have driven growth in their entire economy through a focus on smart specialization and a digital economy. However, the focus on smart specialization still means that the tech verticals in the ICT sector (Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Hardware and Artificial Intelligence) are of the utmost importance to drive growth – the market for such solutions has the potential to grow bigger. A key trend mentioned above is that the ICT sector is no longer viewed as a stand-alone sector, but that digitization is highly embedded in other sectors as well. Moreover, there will be a substantial focus on selected tech verticals, that is, certain areas of the tech sector where Jordan has a comparative strength. Thus, in Jordan, smart specialization focuses on unlocking the potential for digitization in areas where Jordan has – or has the potential to develop – a competitive advantage, and through key tech verticals where Jordan currently has a stronghold. It can also be in areas/sectors of global importance, where Jordanian firms can be positioned in global value chains and can become a development partner, which can open up to further market opportunities. The increased digitization of the global economy provides 24 Foray, Dominique et al (2009): Smart Specialization – the concept