The purpose of this paper is to assess stakeholders’ perceptions on the implementation of the

smart specialization strategy (RIS3) in the North of Portugal, with a particular focus on

technology transfer (TT) activities between 2014 and 2017. A qualitative methodology was

followed through semi-structured interviews applied to the actors in the region based on the

eight priority domains of RIS3 North of Portugal. Data analysis was performed using Iramuteq

software. Our results suggest that the stakeholders’ perception of the fitness of the RIS3

defined for their region does not match with the RIS3 defined by the policy makers. Our

results contribute to a better understanding of the real perception of universities and industry

on TT in the context of RIS3 and the need for ongoing evaluation and adjustments of RIS3

priority domains by policy makers to address them to the real necessities of the industry/

market.