The European Commission launches pilot partnership of regions and member states to better connect regional innovation ecosystems.
A key objective of the European Commission’s nascent Innovation Agenda for Europe is to better interconnect local and regional innovation ecosystems across Europe, and also to better connect regions to initiatives of the European Union. Such connections could help to mobilise relevant policies, funding instruments, and stakeholder efforts in advancing green and digital technology transitions under comprehensive regional innovation partnerships, and so contribute to bridging the innovation divide. After the close of the pilot call for expressions of interest, the Commission has now announced the 63 regions, seven cities, and four Member States selected in the pilot project for such Partnerships for Regional Innovation, an initiative developed together with the Committee of the Regions.
The principal activities of the partnerships include sharing good practices and exploring ways to mobilise multiple sources of funding and policies. They will also look at how to connect regional and national programmes to the relevant EU priorities, in particular the green and digital transitions. The main reference document underpinning the Pilot Action is the newly published “PRI Playbook“, developed by the Joint Research Council (JRC) with the support of a Scientific Committee of recognised experts. This initial edition of the PRI Playbook includes proven tools, inspired by leading innovation policy practice across Europe and the world. The tools will be further improved over the course of the pilot, as they are adapted and tested against the realities of European regions and Member States. The PRI Playbook is aimed at inspiring all levels of government to better leverage policies for innovation, including in domains outside the traditional remit of research and innovation policy.
The JRC will support the pilot and work closely with regions and Member States to co-develop the Playbook, linking participants to appropriate in-house or external expertise, developing relevant policy intelligence, documenting and disseminating broader lessons. The pilot will also be supported by a dedicated scientific committee and other relevant experts. Activities under the Pilot Action will be tailored to the areas of most interest for each participant. They can include thematic workshops, exchanges of good practices, in-depth policy reviews with the involvement of external experts, tailored analytical insights and support from the JRC. Each participating region will cover the costs associated to its participation to the PRI Pilot, and the expected duration of the Pilot Action is 1 year.
The selected partnerships cover a wide representation of the EU innovation ecosystem, from Member States such as Slovakia participating at national level to EU regions such Andalusia, Azores, Hauts-de-France, Ostrobothnia, Podkarpackie, North Aegean, and Emilia Romagna. The call has also triggered a bottom-up collaboration and networking process, already bringing together many participants as part of multi-region networks. This includes, for example, the Baltic Sea region, the Bioregions facility and an expanded Cities 4.0 Consortium (Leuven, Bologna Turku) involving also Eindhoven (NL), Espoo (FI) and Cluj-Napoca (RO). In total, 23 Member States are represented among the participants in the pilot action. The selected territories will participate either on an individual basis or as part of six different networks of EU regions and cities.
The Partnerships are a complementary approach, which builds on positive experience with Smart Specialisation strategies (S3) as a framework for boosting regional innovation. Smart Specialisation is a place-based approach emerging from the EU cohesion policy, aiming to identify strategic areas for intervention. Such judgments are made based both on the analysis of the strengths and potential of the economy and on an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) with wide stakeholder involvement. Smart specialisation is focused on innovation and has a major role in supporting research and innovation to ensure sustainable and resilient development of all regions in Europe.