REID has been a core player in the development of regional innovation strategies since the mid 1990s and, more recently, has been involved in designing and evaluating smart specialisation strategies. From 2014 onwards, REID advised the European Commission services and developed the initial concept for inter-regional smart specialisation partnerships working together on common topics that inspired the work of the so-called Vanguard Initiative.
He has acted as an advisor to a number of thematic partnerships in fields as diverse as offshore technologies in the North Sea to the use of digital technologies, improving productivity of food manufacturers through smart sensors and applying big data to improve traceability of foods in European value chains.