Smart specialisation, a creative approach for growth and job development in Europe that enables each region to recognise and establish competitive advantages, is the research focus in this paper. By implementing the concept of Smart specialisation, investment in research and development, innovation and information, as an instrument in achieving certain goals of the Europe 2020 strategy should increase. Smart specialisation is an innovation policy strategy aimed at enhancing regional innovation by having regions concentrate on their strengths and leading to growth and development. It is focused on business, public institutions and knowledge partnerships. Also, it is an example of the active relationship between science and politics that was initially established within the framework of the European Commission's high-level expert group on "Knowledge for Growth." The process of smart specialisation is important for urban and local growth, in science and in policy-making societies, and it is also bridging the gap in more thematic policies such as industrial and energy policies. Smart specialisation brings together local authorities, academias, business sector and civil society in order to execute long-term development plans with the help of funds with collaboration and bottom-up approach. The paper also discusses the case study on example of implementation of the smart specialisation in the Republic of Croatia. The strategy for Croatia has been brought at the national level because of the small theritory. Moreover, this paper discusses the main golas of S3 for transformation of Croatian economy and increasing its competitiveness by linking knowledge resources to priorities. Priority thematic areas in Croatia include health and quality of life; energy and sustainable environment; traffic and mobility; security; food and bio-economy.