One of the main European Union's assumptions regarding financing regional development is to support the so-called smart specializations. The smart specialization strategies are to be the basis for the implementation of the "Europe 2020" strategy (EU 2020) on the regional and national level in the new financial perspective 2014-2020. the necessity for its development results from the regulations package of European Parliament and the Council laying down the rules regarding European Structural Funds, adopted on 17th December 2013. The objective of the study is to revise to what extent the European Union's requirements relating to the regions preparation fro the new financial perspective have been realized by the Polish regional self-governments and to what extent the adopted smart specializations result form the stakeholders' conviction on the possibilities of individual regions and the benefits that the made choice will bring and to what extent from current trends (fashion).