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European UnionEuropean Regional Development Fund

Towards RegionalspEcialisation for Smart

growth spirit

Story book on INNOVATION TENDENCIES and INITIATIVES

3

Contents

Introduction ................................................................................4

Partners .......................................................................................6

Valga County, ESTONIA ...............................................................8

Tampere region, FINLAND ....................................................... 14

Stuttgart region, GERMANY ......................................................20

West Transdanubian region, HUNGARY ....................................26

Piemonte region, ITALY ..............................................................32

Lubelskie region, POLAND .........................................................38

Bucharest-Ilfov region, ROMANIA .............................................44

Scottish Enterprise, SCOTLAND .................................................50

Basque Country, SPAIN ..............................................................56

3

4 5

In the current economic downturn, the world economy faces lower potential growth, rising unemployment and soaring public debt. From this position, countries are looking for new and more sustainable sources of growth. While the path ahead is uncertain, one thing is clear: this future growth will be driven by the process of innovation.

As highlighted by the European Council in the EU 2020 strategy, regional policy can unlock the growth potential of the EU by promoting inno va tion in all regions, while ensuring comp -lemen tary support for innovation, R&D, entrepre-neur ship and ICT between the EU, Member States, and local regions. To achieve the Europe 2020 smart growth objective, the full innovation poten tial of the EU’s regions needs to be mobi-lised. Innovation is critical both for advanced regions to remain ahead, and for lagging regions to catch up with the more developed areas.

As highlighted in the aforementioned strategy document, innovation is increasingly being under stood as an open system where different actors collaborate and interact. Accordingly, public support for innovation needs to adapt to this change, as the TR3S Project is trying to achieve, complementing efforts to support research and technology by promoting open collabo ration bet ween all stakeholders within and across regions.

TR3S is a three-year INTERREG IVC Programme regional initiative project and it brings together inte rest groups from nine European regions to form a strong multidimensional partnership.

TR3STowards Regional spEcialisation for Smart growth spirit

Each member comes from a different innovation ecosystem and unique situation, but each believes in sharing expertise and knowledge as a means of development and improvement.

Introduction 4 5

TR3S proposes a methodology based on cookingIn cooking, tradition is mixed together with specialisation, innovation and creativity, building a space for learning, creation and transformation that can help to develop new, innovative approaches or "recipes".

Inspired by new tendencies in innovation policy discussion, and aimed specifically at stimulating cluster innovation systems and opportunity-driven innovation, TR3S looks at new innovation policy recipes (Open Innovation & User-driven innovation) to support regions in mobilising their innovation potential for smart growth by means of groundbreaking dynamics.

This book is a collection of TR3S project regional initiatives in Open Innovation & User-driven Innovation. We hope that this publication will provide new ideas on regional approaches that can be translated into better innovation policies, exploring what they can offer for smart regional innovation policy-making through practical initiatives, and strengthening their position for the next round of regional policies.

Sincerely yours, Begoña SánchezTR3S Project Lead Partner

6 7

Lead partner:Tecnalia Research & Innovati on Foundati on (Basque Country, SPAIN)Contact person: Ms. Ezekiela Arrizabalaga E-mail: [email protected]: www.tecnalia.com

PartnersValga County Government (Valga County, ESTONIA)Contact person: Ms. Sille Roomets E-mail: [email protected]

The Balti c Insti tute of Finland (Tampere region, FINLAND)Contact person: Mr. Esa Kokkonen E-mail: [email protected]

Stutt gart Region Economic DevelopmentCorporati on (Stutt gart region, GERMANY)Contact person: Ms. Stephanie FleischmannE-mail: stephanie.fl eischmann@region-stutt gart.de

Pannon Business Network Associati on (West Transdanubian region, HUNGARY)Contact person: Ms. Regina PethőE-mail: [email protected]

Piedmont Region (Piemonte region, ITALY)Contact person: Ms. Stefania Crott aE-mail: stefania.crott [email protected]

Lubelskie Voivodeship (Lubelskie region, POLAND)Contact person: Ms. Ewa Paszkiewicz-Tomasiak E-mail: [email protected]

Bucharest-Ilfov Regional DevelopmentAgency (Bucharest-Ilfov region, ROMANIA)Contact person: Mr. Daniel Popescu E-mail: [email protected]

Scotti sh Enterprise, SCOTLANDContact person: Mr. Ian McCoullE-mail: [email protected]

SPRI, S.A (Basque Country, SPAIN)Contact person: Mr. Juan Domingo Olabarri E-mail: [email protected]

Lead partner• Tecnalia Research & Innovati on Foundati on

(Basque Country, SPAIN)

Partners• Valga County Government (Valga County, ESTONIA)• The Balti c Insti tute of Finland (Tampere region, FINLAND)• Stutt gart Region Economic Development Corporati on

(Stutt gart region, GERMANY)• Pannon Business Network Associati on

(West Transdanubian region, HUNGARY)• Piedmont Region (Piemonte region, ITALY)• Lubelskie Voivodeship (Lubelskie region, POLAND)• Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency

(Bucharest-Ilfov region, ROMANIA)• Scotti sh Enterprise, SCOTLAND• SPRI, S.A (Basque Country, SPAIN)

Partners

Partners6 7

TR3S Project partner contacts

More info at: www.tr3s.eu

Valga County

8 9Valga CountyESTONIA

Policy Context

The innovation system in Estonia was set up mostly at the beginning of the 2000s, when not only the legislation and institutions related to R&D and innovation but the whole public functional system was created. On the one hand, Estonia needs to be flexible with regards to global changes, but on the other, also needs to keep its values.

The Estonia 2020 National Reform Programme is Estonia’s strategy for achie ving the Europe 2020 objectives. The Estonia 2020 plan describes the policy priorities and measures to be implemented for the purpose of raising Estonia´s competitiveness and sets goals for 2015 and 2020 accordingly. The two central objectives of Estonia 2020 are increasing productivity and employment in Estonia. The main focus in the coming years is on education and employment, and the main objectives include integrating long-term and young unemployed people into the labour market and developing their skills. The objec tives and measures of the strategy are in conformity with the Government´s Action Plan, the state budget strategy, and the stability programme. The final objectives are set for 2020 and intermediate objectives for 2015.

Estonian Research & Development and Innovation Strategy 2014-2020: Knowledge-based EstoniaThe overall aim of the development of RDI is to create favourable conditions for an increase in productivity and in the standard of living, for high-quality education and culture, and for the longevity and development of Estonia. This strategy establishes four main objectives for Estonia:• Research in Estonia is diverse and of a high level;• Research and development (RD) functions in the interests of the Estonian economy

and society.• R&D makes the structure of the economy more knowledge-intensive. RDI investments

selected and managed through smart specialisation methods encourage the development of growth fields at a faster-than-expected pace. The share of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship in the economy and the added value of exports will increase significantly. The selected fields of growth are:- Information and Communication Technology (ICT), horizontally through other sec

tors. E.g. use of ICT in industry (incl. automatisation and robotics), cybersecurity, software deve lopment;

- Health technologies and services. E.g. biotechnology, e-health (use of IT for the deve lopment of medical services and products);

- More effective use of resources. E.g. materials science and industry, innovative const ruction, i.e. “smart house”, health promoting food, chemical industry (more effective use of oil shale);

• Estonia is active and visible in international RDI cooperation.

New

tendenciesin innovation

8 9

Current Regional Approaches and Examples

Open Innovation

Competence centreinitiative programmeThe general objective is the increase of inter national competitiveness through the strengthening cooperation between entrep-re neurs and research establishments.

This programme’s sub-objectives are:• To gather and develop the critical

amount of competence and resource at the top level resulting from the common vision of entrepreneurs and research establishments.

• To increase the quality and volume of applied research directed toward the creation of added economic value.

• To increase the number of R&D wor kers focused on the needs of entrepreneurship, and their movement between entrep reneurs and research establishments.

• To improve the planning of longterm strategic development activities and management capability in the companies and research establishments.

Competence Centres are structured, longterm RTDI collaborations in strategically important positions between academia, industry and the public sector. Centres aim to bridge the gap between scientific and economic innovation by providing a collective environment for academics, industry and other innovation actors and creating suffi-cient critical mass. Centres are involved in multiple activities, including pooling know-ledge, creating new knowledge through diffe rent types of research, and training.

Innovation voucher grantThe objective of the innovation voucher grant is to increase the competitiveness of Estonian SMEs through the transfer of knowledge and technology, the expansion of cooperation with R&D institutions, and

the increased ability to protect intellectual property. The innovation voucher grant is run by Enterprise Estonia and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

The grant is provided for applicants’ business activities in the following areas:• consulting on product or service deve-

lopment;• consulting on work organisation, pro

duction or technology;• development and introduction of design

solutions;• performance of feasibility studies;• consulting on metrology, standardisa

tion and certification;• performance of compatibility and pro-

duct application tests;• legal protection consultation on pa tents,

utility models or industrial design;• surveys and information searches on pa-

tents, utility models or industrial design;• registration of a patent, utility model or

industrial design.

Ajujaht Estonian startup competition The Ajujaht entrepreneurship competition aims to help young entrepreneurs to set up innovative companies. The competition was launched by Enterprise Estonia and funded as part of the entrepreneurship awareness programme of the European Social Fund. The top 20 teams have the opportunity to participate in the Ajujaht training program and make their business ideas better with the help of the mentors.

The objectives of competition are:• to raise awareness of entrepreneurship

amongst young people by introducing them to entrepreneurship and encoura ging them to start new businesses;

• to provide opportunities to test and implement business ideas, including financing and contacts with potential investors;


duct development problems, and generate new intelligent ideas. Mektory has focussed on three areas – design and product development, development of business models, and mobile services and media.

• To link theoretical studies at the university with the practical side to the maximum possible extent, and thereby to prepare better-trained engineers with experience in cooperating with companies.

• To encourage student startup companies to move forward. Mektory have already held four business model competi tions and sent the winners to global centres of technology!

• To communicate with younger generations and show that engineering is exciting, feasible and down to earth! Numerous possibilities have been created in the house for children.

• To maximise internationalisation, be-cause these days, success is only guaranteed by combining different cultu res, working habits, ideas and interes ting solutions.

• to support innovative entrepreneur-ship and help to build a new, innovative gene ration of entrepreneurs;

• to teach young people the necessary skills to start a business, and to create a willingness to invest and take risks.

The competition consists of several stages. In the autumn, there are events to raise awareness of entrepreneurship. Thereafter, several training sessions, meetings, contact seminars, and workshops are held. After the training is completed, the competition is opened to business ideas, through which the 25 best ideas and teams are chosen. Each participant will have the chance to partici-pate in the development program and to develop their business idea with mentors. After the completion of the development program, 6 contestants are chosen, and the grant prize is awarded.

MEKTORY Innovation and business centre The aim of Mektory is:• To bring together scientists, students

and entrepreneurs, solve practical pro-

10 11

Idea Lab of University of TartuThe Idea Lab is an environment where students from all faculties form interdiscipli-nary teams in order to realize innovative ideas or to solve exciting challenges. The Idea Lab collects ideas and challenges from students, companies and faculty members. Formation of teams is based on individual interest in the idea or challenge. The teams get guidance, mentoring and support during the program, which lasts 11 weeks. For companies, this is a place to find new concepts or test the viability of new ideas. The Idea Lab welcomes companies who want to submit their challenge or idea to the lab or to mentor a team. The Idea Lab has already established cooperation with

business incubators and other universities in Estonia. They also have partners abroad, in Latvia, Finland, Croatia and the USA (more info: http://ideelab.wordpress.com/).

Tartu Centre of Creative IndustriesThe Tartu Centre for Creative Industries (TCCI) was established in May 2009. At the moment, it operates as the coordinator of creative industries in Tartu and South Estonia by providing relevant information and training to creative industries, legal and economic consulting for creative entrepreneurs, and business incubation (as well as pre- and post-incubation) services.

The objective of the Tartu Centre for Crea-tive Industries is to become the coordinating and developing unit for creative industries, not only in Tartu but throughout the whole South Estonia region. To this end, they have established good contacts with cultural entrepreneurs, institutions and businesses active in the area. As one of their goals includes setting up an international network enabling our businesses to enter foreign markets, the Tartu Centre for Creative Industries took the lead in develo ping a creative industries cluster in South Estonia.

User Driven Innovation

In recent years, the interest for userdriven innovation has increased radically in the Nordic countries. Estonia has the highest number of internet users per capita anywhere in the world, and it is not surpri sing that much of the innovation is focused around the digital service industry. However, Estonia’s impressive success has not been limited only to the commercial exploi tation of digital innovation, but also to the digitalisation of the country s public administration. Civil registration, fiscal authorities, health care system and many other services have, to a very high degree, been coordinated through digitalisation (Norden, 2010).


Centre of Registers and Information Systems (RIK)RIK is a state agency working under the Minist ry of Justice. RIK’s main goal is to provide an innovative and integrated environment of e-services for the more effi cient implementation of governmental admi-nistra tion, law and criminal jurisdiction. RIK is one of the biggest govern mental IT organizations in Estonia.

RIK develops and administers about 50 regis ters and information services for law and criminal jurisdiction, including the court information system, e-File, and e-Law. There is also the e-Business Register, e-Land Register and e-Notary. The e-Business Regis ter makes it possible to register a new company over the Internet and also make detailed inquiries about other companies,

12 13

look at annual reports and much more. The e-Land Register is a register of ownership which has greatly simplified electronic conveyance, making all the data available over the internet. ENotary is the environment that helps notaries in their work and organizes electronic communi cation between the notary and the state.

The aforementioned IT solutions have been positively acknowledged in Estonia as well as in Europe. The success of the RIK has been confirmed by the auditors of the National Audit Office of Estonia, in their audit on the use of IT solutions by the public sector. It is also a world recordholder, according to the Universal Record Database. This World Record was achieved by allowing the fastest establishing of an enterprise over the Internet, using the e-Business Register.

Future or Planned Activities

The overall aim of the development of RDI is to create favourable conditions for the increase in productivity and in the standard of living, for high-quality education and culture, and for longevity and development of Estonia. It is important to achieve a balanced, harmonious and sustainable RDI system, where resources must be used for the benefit of society and for the development of new products and services. The main task of the new strategy is to increase the impact of the research system in Estonia in solving the challenges facing society, as well as in improving the competitiveness of the economy.

“Innovation is about new ideas and knowledge. The most important thing is to disseminate ideas and knowledge to create a value-generating outcome. Innovation is often associated only with technology, but it has many more forms and models. When it comes to innovation, creativity is often the main component of the process.

There are no specific rules or guidelines for innovation. Rather, it is more a case of motivation, attitude and the state of mind of opinion leaders, businesses, employees, and customers. It can blossom and meet challenges in supportive working and visiting environments. It depends on us, and our way of thinking.

Tourism is the fastest growing industry and the biggest employer in the world. Visitors to our regions have the potential to be ambassadors of innovation. They are broadminded, willing to learn, they travel a lot and experience a lot. They can deliver messages about their destination, and they can also bring in new ideas, knowledge and solutions.

Open your mind, listen to your “ambassadors,” crea-te the right environment for innovation, and let good things happen in your regions.”

Interview with Ms. Sille Roomets, Tourism Innovation Expert, Estonia

14 15Tampere regionFINLAND

Policy Context

Regional development in the Tampere region is based on strategic frameworks and long programming periods. Cluster-based development activities started in the beginning of the 1990s.

The Finnish Centre of Expertise Program (OSKE) was a national development program implemented in the regions from 1994. In OSKE, Tampere Region had strong business activities and top research expertise in seven fields: biotechnology, digibusiness, energy technology, health technology, intelligent machines, nanotechnology and ubiqui tous computing. These activities were based on close cooperation between research insti tutions, institutes of higher education, the business community and different finan cing orga nizations. They sped up the growth of industry by activating cooperation networks and providing financing as well as by launching and realizing different development projects. The practical activities of OSKE were coordinated by technology centres and development organisations in the regions.

During the third period of 20072013, OSKE was implemented according to the cluster model. The aim was to enhance regional specialization, cooperation between compe tence clusters, internationalisation and innovation activities that combine research, technology and business knowhow.

The Tampere Region Innovation Strategy was completed in 2008 by the Council of Tampere Region, together with universities, polytechnics, businesses, muni cipalities and other development orga nisations.

Creative Tampere was started as a business development program that ran from 2006-2011. Since 2012, Creative Tampere's work in furthering the creative economy and creative industries has continued. The main role is guiding businesses, providing training, running projects, creating a centre for creative industries, and creating a new centre for the media industry.

New

tendenciesin innovation

14 15


Tampere Region is one of the innovation hot spots in Europe that needs a coordinated and ambitious regional policy. Current ly the key themes of the regional innovation policy include open innovation, multidisciplinary innovation platforms and user-driven innovation.

Ongoing processes in the region include:• Growth agreement 2014+,

processes and the new innovation policy instrument implemented between the state and big city regions focusing on lead markets, development ecosystems and global attractiveness.

• Open Tampere program 20122018, economic development policy focusing on companies with growth potential, cross-sectoral development work, new service business development in the ICT sector, new financing instruments, open innovation platforms and branding.

• Tampere New Deal 2015, a partnership concept that aims to identify proactive operational models to manage the structural changes in the ICT sector and other business sectors.

• The Innovative Cities (INKA) Program 20142020, a new natio-nal development program that replaces the OSKE Program. The program aims to develop the most innovative regions in Finland as internationally connected innovation ecosystems.

• Regional strategy and program processes started in 2013, and regional foresight activities supporting the strategy process.

The Smart Specialization Strategy is genera-ted based on these processes and fin dings from previous innovation policy programmes. It emphasizes the development of open innovation platforms, methods and businesses, the use of new knowledge and

best international partners, and the will to solve big societal challenges and create lead markets.

One part of the Tampere New Deal 2015 is Nokia’s Bridge program. By the end of May 2012, around 1500 ex-employees of the Nokia company had received help from the program. 70% of them had found a new job or started a new qualification. 220 new enter prises were established. The program has four main areas: individual reemployment, support and coaching for entrepreneurship, training, and university collaboration.

Local business development centres that are owned by the cities and munici palities around the region support businesses in their own areas. The main task is to plan and implement the cities’ and municipalities’ business strategies, which set general guidelines for the local business and industrial structure. Open Tampere is coordi nated by Tredea Ltd, a business develop ment centre. The aim of Open Tampere is to improve the competitiveness of the Tampere Region through deve-loping an inno vation ecosystem that is based on open innovation platforms.

The aim of the INKA (Innovative Cities) Program 2014-2020 is to generate new business and create new companies through high-quality abilities, thus creating more jobs. The program is underpinned by close local cooperation and the pooling of resources between science, education, indivi dual companies, and the government. The methods used include new development environments, creating pioneering markets, and national and international coope ration in levera ging expertise.

The Ministry of Employment and the Eco-nomy has approved five national themes for

16 17FINLAND Tampere region

the program and has also named the urban regions responsible for leading the work in these themes.

The goal of the INKA is to create competi-tive, high-tech companies and thus pro-mote the emergence of innovation clusters in Finland. Five national themes were selected for the program, and the theme SMART CITY AND RENEWABLE INDUSTRY is governed by the Tampere Region. Lahti, Oulu, the Helsinki metropolitan area and Turku act as partners in this theme.

More information: http://www.investtampere.fi/how/innova-tion-programmes/

Open Innovation

Open innovation platforms are a new way to boost innovations in Tampere. Their faci-li ties are designed in a way that supports social networking and crosssectoral interac tion. Open innovation platforms aim to support business development, as well as the planning and utilisation of research results in efficient and agile ways.

The New Factory was established in Tampere by the Hermia Group in 2008. It is situated in an old factory in the city center. The New Factory provides students, entrepreneurs, researchers and developers with an environment for open innovation, allo wing them to turn ideas into prototypes, pilot projects, products and services, new business and new jobs. Seeds of ideas can come from businesses, students, researchers or local residents. Besides ideas, enterprises supply the Factory with coaching and financing. In return, the New Factory offers enterprises new talent, business ideas and concepts.

The New Factory has achieved the following results since 2009: almost 450 inno-vation projects executed with over 160 partner companies, and almost 70 startups and more than 400 new jobs have been created. The startups and the innovators have gathered more than 15 million euros in funding. Total public investment has been 2.2 million euros.

In the New Factory platform framework, seve ral different innovation activities and models are operated:

Can the heading be for example: The Demola Network was launched in 2008 in Tam-pere, Finland. Today, Demola Tampere carries out annually some 100 projects with 450 students and the partner companies have licensed 80 % of the project outputs.

16 17

In Demola (1), university students develop product and service demo concepts together with companies and create new solutions to real-life problems. Demola was recognised with the Assembly of European Regions (AER) Innovation Award in 2010 and the BSR Innovation Award in 2012.

Protomo (2) offers a wide range of support services to business idea developers, professionals and young talent, free of charge, including facilities, community support, supplementary knowhow and expert sparring for new product and service development and market launches. Protomo provides a new path to entrepreneurship: you can bring in an idea for further deve lopment, combine ideas, or find a suitable team to join in.

DSII – Doctoral School for Industrial Innovation (3) links academic docto ral studies with strong teamwork and new innovation tools. DSII started at the beginning of 2014 with a pilot group of 7 members focusing on intelligent hydraulics and automation.

BioMediTech is a joint institute of the Tampere University of Technology and

the University of Tampere. It brings together a powerful mix of multidisciplinary expertise in life sciences and medical technology. Over 250 scientists conduct research and education in the fields of cell and molecular biology, genetics, biomaterials, biosensors, computational systems, biotechnology, biomedical engineering, and regenerative medicine.

A new open innovation platform, Media-polis, is an international media campus targeting the media business sector and rela-ted education. Yle, the Finnish broadcasting company, and the Technopolis real estate company concluded an agreement which makes Technopolis the owner of Yle facilities on the outskirts of Tampere, with Yle as the tenant. The third party to the agreement is the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK).

Mediapolis is a new kind of ecosystem for the creative fields. It enables daily cooperation between working media professionals and students, thereby bringing bene fits to all parties. The most important objectives of the Mediapolis plan are the introduction of new subjects in cultural education, the creation of new jobs, and

Universities• Currenst topics for courses• Integrated tool for innovation and entrepreneurship education• Connecting universities, industr y and multidisciplinary talents

Project partners• License to project results• Hands-on innovation experience• Co-creation with best talents• Interface to universities

Talentes students and developers• Students own the resultas created in the project• Real world project experience• Networking• Credit points• Opportunity to get rewarded

Demolacommunity

Facilitateddemo

creation

Demola is a sustainable innovation engine with region-wide co-creation, win-win-win model and cost-efficiency

18 19Tampere regionFINLAND

an increase in entrepreneurship within the media business.

Entrepreneurship Campus (Y-kam-pus) has operated under the premises of the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) since 2013. It is an open inno-vation platform that gathers different entrepreneurship and businessuniversity collaboration courses and related peda-gogic methods in one place.

The studies are open to all TAMK students. At Y-kampus, students learn by doing, and work on marketing and product development projects with real businesses. Y-kampus provides a network of entrepreneur ship mentors that help young entrepreneurs by challenging new business ideas and sharing their own experience and trends from business life.


User-Driven Innovation is a key theme in the development of current innovation policy in Tampere Region. All Open Innova

tion activities are designed to include users in the development work.

ITS Factory is an innovation, experimen-tation, and development environment operated jointly by the City of Tampere, University of Tampere and companies from relevant sectors. It offers tools for the deve-lopment of intelligent transport services to improve people's ability to move about quickly, safely, and in an environmentally friendly manner. Open data allows for the development of new applications, pro ducts and services. ITS Factory facilitates the testing of services and systems in order for them to meet the needs of the endusers, namely city residents, businesses, and the public sector.


Currently, Tampere Region is developing new ways of working to renew the cluster struc-tures and to complement the regional innovation ecosystem with entirely new components. Thesituationalpictureofinnovationprovides topical information about the state of inno-va tion activity in the Tampere region. It is designed to support regional decision-making, collaboration and smart specialisation strategy. The development of the situational picture of innovation is an annual collaborative effort of regional partnership. The process is conti-nuously updated in collaboration with international experts and peers.

Exceptional capabilities for collaborative innovation can provide a competitive edge for regional innovation ecosystems. The innovation ecosystem will be redesigned with inno-vation platforms that are open and flexible to all kinds of talents. Open innovation platforms typically provide faster and more efficient processes that can implement customer-driven and oriented product and service development projects and pilots with a lower level of risk and costs.

18 19

“The key issue is to develop talented individuals, instead of industrial sectors, to speed up the value crea tion processes that are based on key areas of expertise specific to the Tampere region. Our main policy tools are innovation platforms and growth services, system level trials and demonstrations, as well as global co-learning & investments. With the help of financing tools such as INKA, the Tampere region will create future innovation opportunities in the fields of smart mobility, smart housing & infrastructure, industry renewal and advanced care.

We are facing a difficult structural change. Therefore, new types of global and multidisciplinary talents are needed to grasp the global value chains. Future success stories will be based on spontaneous internationalization, global co-learning and digital innovations. Companies will use more innovation platforms for their renewal.

The development of innovation policy is a long-term process and each region can learn only by doing. Building strategic global partnerships is also a precondition.”

Interviewwith Mr. Petri Räsänen, Manager for Innovation and Future, Tampere Regional Council

20 21Stuttgart regionGERMANY

New tendencies in innovation

Policy Context

For the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS), it has always been a main concern to support and strengthen the regional innovation systems and raise the innovation capacity of companies in the Stuttgart Region. Many activities have contributed to this objective. Current findings in innovation research have shown that the character of innovation processes is generally dependent on the specific sector in which they occur or a specific technology. In the Stuttgart Region, the approach of supporting innovation on the regional level is therefore mainly oriented towards the promotion and development of cluster initiatives and networks. Those initia tives and networks not only offer knowledge about new research findings and deve-lopments and partners for cooperation but also develop independently specific offers in support of the innovativeness and competitiveness of their members.

Having in mind this regional approach of promoting cooperation and networking, the new para-digm of Open Innovation has already been implemented to some extent and strategically relevant for the future development of the regional innovation system, as it is aimed at opening up the innovation processes of companies. The policy documents on regional economic deve lop-ment – the first strategy was adopted by the Regional Assembly (the region’s democratic decision-making body) in 2006, and was updated in 2010 – explicitly point out the relevance of Open Innovation for the region’s economy. In contrast, the strategy does not go into detail regarding the topic of User-Driven Innovation.

The strategy document entitled "Wirtschaftspolitische Handlungsfel der für die Region Stuttgart bis zum Jahr 2020" (Fields of action in economic policy for the Stuttgart Region by 2020) has, since 2006, contained a thematic focus on corporate development and entrepreneurship. One chapter was dedicated to the improvement of innovation capacities of SMEs by new forms of innovation management, with a main focus on Open Innovation.

When the strategy was updated in 2010, with the document entitled ‘Region im Wandel: Fortschreibung der wirtschaftspolitischen Handlungsfel der für die Region Stuttgart bis zum Jahr 2020’ (Region in transition: Update of the fields of action in economic policy for the Stuttgart Region by 2020), there was again a specific chapter in the policy area of innovation, which highlights the relevance of Open Innovation for the regional economy. Support is seen to be needed mainly by SMEs, as they often lack the capacities to realize and make use of the oppurtunities arising from this new concept. The public support activities comprise awareness raising and qualification, encouraging the opening up of innovation processes, the better exploitation of patents and inventions, and the promotion of a ‘coopetition’ culture in the Stuttgart Region.

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An implementation concept for the regional economic development strategy for the next few years contains specific projects and measures in the policy field of innovation. The concept was adopted by the Regional Assembly in 2011. In addition, there are other (EU-funded) projects and initiatives dealing with the topic of Open Innovation.

Open Innovation

Competence and Innovation Centre Initiative The Competence Centres Initiative, launched by the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation, syste matically pursues the approach to initiate and support effective cooperation and networking on a triplehelix basis between business, research, education and politics. Focused on the region’s main techno logies, Competence Centres in the

Stuttgart Region have a particular topic-driven approach. As the program supports the initiation, set-up and daily networking of innovative players around the triple-helix model, this creates network institutions with individual legal entities that generate long-term benefits for the region, and this encourages the exchange of knowledge and experience as well as the opening up of innovation environments. Today, more than 500 compa nies and 50 other stakeholders are involved, including companies, universities and research institutes, and local authorities. The initiative was started in 2000; today, there are 11 competence centers running. As a result, the initiative is considered to be successful and is further developed regu larly.

TecNet Platform for Ideas The TecNet Platform for Ideas is an Open Innovation approach enabling smaller suppliers and


companies from outside the automotive sector to find entry into the group of suppliers for car manufacturers within the State of Baden-Württemberg (and beyond). Through a brief description of fields of interest for further development of a car manufac turer, a specialized template is handed to the auto-motive cluster management. The cluster management, as a neutral body, spreads the news about the fields of interest amongst the cluster, and participating clusters outside the region and sector, and thus enables

the entry of new companies into the group of suppliers. In a second step, propositions on how to solve a specific problem are sent to the leading cluster management or clearing interface of the Open Innovation process, which then – as a neutral point – hands the ideas on to the OEM. If the OEM finds an adequate solution amongst the propositions, the neutral body arranges the contact.

Inventio This new initiative has been set up together with regional partners such as

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inventors, engineering service providers and consultants, and aims at developing promising ideas into marketable products by matching inventors with development partners that have the required knowhow. It focuses on practical support to make an innovation out of an invention. Together, the partners identify the required support and decide whether the idea is selfdeveloped or sold to a third party. Inventio is a neutral platform run by the WRS that secures a fair share of costs and revenue between the inventors and their supporting partners. The initiative started in 2012.

HiTURS In 2012 the new Stuttgart Region High-tech Entrepreneurship initative was launched. It is designed to support hightech startups and young technology ventures by linking them with corporate investors, experienced corporate partners and qualified co-founders via an internet-based

brokerage platform. Support is offered not only through capital for growing startups following the Business Angels approach and management competences by fellow partners, but also by bringing young companies together with established compa nies to create successful partnerships. Main ly the latter element is most important for Open Innovation, as it comprises the joint development of new innovations, new markets or to make use of synergy effects. The initiative started in 2012.

EURIS (INTERREG IVC mini-programme) EURIS’ goal is to contribute to the opening up of EU regions’ innovation ecosystems. This will be reached through the embracement of Open Innovation, leading to accelerated cooperation rates among innovation stakeholders (companies and research insti tutions), both in the midst of each region and among different EU


regions. The key partners are WRS, Fraunhofer IAO, the University of Stuttgart, and the Virtual Dimension Center Fellbach. Next to the exchange of experiences via regional best practi ces on Open Innovation and developing policy recommendations for innovation stake holders, the most important aspect of inter regional cooperation is the definition and joint implementation of sub-projects. Carried out by the project partners and regional public stakeholders, these subprojects will exchange several good practices and/or jointly develop new interregional approaches in the field of Open Innovation. This comprises, for example, new methods for moving business models towards Open Innovation, or the identification of new busi ness opportunities through hybridization. The University of Stuttgart has deve loped an open research platform

to ex change knowledge and share their research findings especially with SMEs. The total regional budget for the Stuttgart Region is 780,000 euros.

Arena of Innovation This event is dedica ted to fostering a passion for innovation by offering an open innovation factory where ideas are developed into marketable products within several hours or days. Teams of engineers, experts from industry, designers, students and tinkerers coope-rate in the innovation process, as well as the Regional Network Mechatronic BW, regional universities and research insti-tutes. The Arena of Innovation is generally a frame work program during trade fairs or big events, and is accompanied by a small exhibition of the partners involved, presenting their competences.


Currently under consideration is the setup of an Open Innovation platform for the Stuttgart Region, aimed at stimulating a regional innovation culture and cooperative problem-solving among students from regional universities. This goal will be reached through joint projects with multidisciplinary student teams that find innovative solutions for unsolved problems of regional companies. The Demola concept of the Tampere Region could serve as good practice for this initiative.

Events to raise awareness of Open Innovation will stay on the regional agenda. They will be organized together with regional networks and cluster initiatives to reach the relevant target groups. The development of new formats for such types of events is currently under discussion.

24 25

“In 2013, we developed a new regional strategy, following the previous ones from the years 2006 and 2010. For several months, 250 stakeholders

– represen tatives from regional authorities, muni-cipalities, companies, business chambers and research institutions – participated in the bottom-up process. Our regional innovation strategy was based on the smart specialization approach. Strengthe ning the industrial basis and developing innovative solutions in the areas of sustainable mobility, environ-ment and renewable energies were the main aspects and will continue to be challenges in the future. Therefore, the TR3S framework, experience and perso nal exchange were very fruitful.

Strengthening regional innovation systems is advantageous for the entire economy. Apart from other activities in specific business sectors, the regional approach is mainly oriented towards the promotion and development of cluster initiatives and networks. As a result, the numerous small- and medium-sized enterprises in particular are strengthened.

In the future, we will extend our startup support by developing and implementing a new concept using open innovation systems. On the one hand, young enterprises will profit from the knowledge of estab-lished and successful companies by sharing their infra structure. On the other hand, companies will benefit from the new ideas generated together. So it’s a win-win situation for both parties.”

Interview with Mr. Walter Rogg, Managing Director of Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS)

26 27West Transdanubian regionHUNGARY


Policy Context

In the 1990s, Hungary integrated more deeply into global economic processes during the transition process to a market economy. Companies operating in Hungary began to use more modern technologies, production processes and management methods. However, this process resulted in significant differences in the regional structure, as development is closely linked to foreign capital inflows. As a result, these companies are present mainly in those parts of the country – that is, in Central Hungary and the NorthWest Transdanubian region – where the presence of foreign capital is strong. In 2001, the West Transdanubian region, which belongs to this zone, developed its first (and current) Regional Innovation Strategy, which has the following objectives:1. Improving the business environment in the region;2. Developing the knowledge base and encouraging the spread of knowledge;3. Developing the innovation infrastructure;4. Financing innovation.

The Hungarian innovation policy was renewed in 2002-2003. The government has initiated significant changes to reform the innovation structure and its funding system as well as to ensure the legislative conditions for innovation. This reform aims to promote the economic utilisation of innovation.

Law 134/2004 on Research and Development and Innovation was passed by the Hungarian Parliament and entered into force on 1 January 2005. It was the first law on innovation in the country which globally defined, and through numerous measures promoted, research and development, technological innovation, and the economic and social exploitation of the results. Its main measures focus on the financing of R&D and technology innovation; the exploitation of the results of the research and intellectual developments; and the fa-ci litation of the establishment of innovative businesses and innovative activities of SMEs, thereby further strengthening human resources in innovation.

In 2005, Regional Innovation Agencies were established by the National Research and Technology Office across the country, and so the West Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency was also established with the aim of organising technology innovation networks and providing innovation services for economic players in the region. One of its tasks was the review of the Regional Innovation Strategy. This process, which began in 2009, left the strategy the same as the original, despite extensive negotiations and review.

26 27

After acceding to the European Union, review of the national strategy documents has become neccessary. Therefore, in 2007, the Government Medium-term (2007-2013) Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Strategy (STI) was created in which the following objectives were defined:1. Strengthening the RDI activities of companies2. Setting up internationally competitive RDI facilities and centres3. Strengthening social competitiveness, thereby generating knowledge4. Strengthening the RDI capacity of the regions

The change of Hungarian governmnet in 2010 resulted a new national development plan, the New Széchenyi Plan (ÚSZT), which is the Hungarian national strategic reference framework and offers a basic action plan for the last 3 years of the 2007-2013 programming period. The ÚSZT has 7 points for strengthening the economy and increasing employment. Among the break-out points is a separate chapter dedicated to sciences and innovation (the Science and Innovation Program) which deals with the development of human resources, as well as defining enterprise development tools that can provide better opportunities for innovative firms, thereby boosting international cooperation, and restructuring the government management system that affects national innovation processes as priorities.

The National Research, Development and Innovation Strategy was drafted in this spirit and then accepted in June 2013 ("Investing in the future: National Research, Development and Innovation Strategy 2020"). The main objective of the strategy is to increase R&D spen-ding in order to reach the goal of 1.8 percent of GDP at the end of this decade, and also to create the kind of environment in which businesses, enterprises and public sector organisations implementing R&D and innovative ideas are able to grow and evolve. Another important objective is increasing the number of researchers from the current 37,000 to more than 50,000 by 2020.


There is no particular focus on open inno-vation or on user-driven innovation in Hungary. Initiatives come from the regio-nal level and/or from abroad. Therefore, it would be prudent to introduce some examples for international cooperation that are focused on open innovation and user-driven innovation and implemented by our organisation.

Open Innovation

INNOVAL Interregional Innovation leadersINNOVAL is an innovation support project for the mechatronic and electronic sector in the field of Ambient Assisted Living

(AAL). In recent years, the concept of “open innovation” has spread widely. The basic idea of this concept demands that external as well as internal ideas and relevant market trends are equally considered and applied in order to develop new techno logies. This process requires rethinking at companies, in the sense that the ideas and processes of external actors are actively incorporated into their own business processes. Through the involvement of other organi


sations, as well as by developing innovation networks (e.g. by cooperation with other companies and research institu tions in the same sector) a higher added value can be generated. One of the main objectives of the project is to support compa nies aiming at new innovations in the fields of mechatronic and AAL.

The fundamental idea of INNOVAL deals with the inclusion of SMEs and research partners into the development of an interregional innovation network and the requi-red Innovation Support Systems (ISS) on both sides of the border.

ISS aims to motivate SMEs to develop new ideas together with research partners and other members of the target groups. AAL and smart home technologies are intended to play a major role in the process of develop ment.

Target groups in participating regions are:• Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises

(SMEs) in related fields of technology• Research centres• Local public institutions

• Local service providers• Local consulting partners


Centrope_tt – Technology Transfer Community Powered & Connected by CentropeSet up as a transnational financial instrument in 2010, the aim of the Centrope Inno vation Scheme was to set up an international community of service providers for technology transfer and innovation. Acting as an agent for innovative businesses, the CCT scheme facilitated knowledge exchange and cooperation between businesses in the central European i.e. Centrope region and expert R&D institutions from across the four regions participating in the scheme, irres pective of their country of origin.

Operating through a fully subsidised voucher system, the scheme provided access to financial support for up to 50 transnational science/R&D institutions to business research partnerships in the border regions of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

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The national target linked to the headline goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy is increasing expenditure on research and development to 1,8% of GDP. In order to reach this goal and to strengthen this process, in 2013 the Hungarian government decided to develop regional smart specialization strategies, but due to the weak power of the regions, and in line with economic strategy, smart specialization strategy design processes were launched at county level in 2014. One of the bases of this smart specialization strategy in Vas County is the Economic Development Startegy 20142020 of Vas County, which was developed with the input and cooperation of the TR3S project.

Priorities of the smart specialization strategy in Vas County:• Identification and development of innovation excellence in the county and improve

ment of the framework conditions• Development of innovation services and their institutions• Improvement of the competitiveness of businesses in the county, and expansion of the

county’s knowledge base (professional, innovation and management)

Planned investments, development trends, initiatives:• Healing Product Centre of Excellence• Applied Physics and Astrophysics Centre of Excellence• Environmental Impact Analysis Centre of Excellence• Forum for Large Companies


• SME Development Program• Growth Program for micro-enterprises and start-ups• Development program for social enterprises• Industrial cooperation programmes in the following sectors:

mechatronics wood and furniture- logistics- creative industries

• Development of an innovation-centred education model• Ecoindustrial development of the industrial area• Supporting new solutions and the creation of research and manufacturing techno-

logies and capacities in the field of raw materials for healthy food as well as production of drinking and irrigation water, which are vital for society

• Creation of an innovation assistance network

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Interview with Mr. Balázs Barta, Director of the Pannon Business Network Association

The majority of the companies in the West Transdanubian region want to achieve a competitive advantage based on price advantage rather than through added value and innovation. This trend is not viab le in the longterm, though, and it is therefore essential that development processes move toward uniqueness and specialization. The current innovation processes (user-driven and open innovation) must also be supported in Hungary. Thus, regional planning and innovation strategies must be based on international experiences we can learn from the TR3S project.

In the new EU programming period, there is the possibility that a program which comes from the region and is tailored to regional characteristics could be implemented, combining regional resources and geographical position, and defining the region’s own vision for the future. Successful implementation will require new attitudes and the mobilisation of human resources in the spirit of innovation.

32 33Piemonte regionITALY32 33

Policy Context

Since 2006, with the approval of the Regional System of Research and Innovation regional law (R.L. 04/2006), the Piedmont Region has developed a regional innovation policy in order to rebuild its innovation system by increasing co-operation between innovators and extending innovation beyond large manufacturing firms. The law aims to promote research into innovation, strengthen the research system, and create a culture of systematic evaluation and performance improvement within the field of innovation policy.

The central instrument for delivering the aims of this law are the General Guidelines of Research and Innovation, as well as the Three-Year Research Plan, which higlights the measures that will be made available, where investment will be made, and the general principles underlying the threeyear expenditure plan.

The first Three-Year Research Plan, which was approved by the Ministry for Innovation for the period 2007-2009, identified the following five action lines into which funding have been diverted: human resources, investments in industrial growth, supporting knowledge generation, encouraging knowledge utilisation, and technical assistance.

In accordance with the principles set out in L.R. 4/2006 and the Regional Operational Program/ERDF 2007-2017, in 2009 the Piedmont Region established 12 innovation clusters in the territory, both in traditional sectors as well as in high-tech sectors in order to support the competitiveness of SMEs. These are: 1) Agri-food; 2) Biotechnology and biomedical engineering; 3) Sustainable chemistry; 4) New materials; 5) Digital creativity and multimedia; 6) Sustainable architecture and hydrogen; 7) Renewable energy and biofuels; 8) Fittings, systems and components for renewable energies; 9) Renewable energies and micro-Hydro; 10) ICT; 11) Mechatronics and advanced production systems; and 12) Textiles. Enterprises in the innovation clusters have the opportunity to benefit from funding for innovation services and activities, which include user-driven innovation projects, including Living Labs and access to technology crowd sourcing international network. The Piedmont Region has also established four technology platforms in agro-food, aerospace, biotechnologies, and the automotive sector, with the aim of financing programmes, industrial research projects and strategic pre-competitive development projects. The Pied-mont Region is fostering innovation through different initiatives and projects at the regio-nal level (e.g. Innovation Clusters), as well as at the European level (e.g. transnational and cross-border projects in the context of the VII Framework Programme for R&D and territorial cooperation programmes).


Current Regional Approaches and Example

Call for funding research service in open innovationPiedmont Region is promoting open innovation services to allow enterprises, parti-cularly SMEs, to enter international net-works of knowledge services in order to foster innovation technology through new services, products, and processes. Open innovation services have been included in the call for funding for research services, a call that Piedmont Region issued to SMEs associated with the innovation clusters that were established in 2009. These were established to support the competitiveness of SMEs by promoting cooperation among enterprises, research centres and universities. Starting in 2010, with the first call for research services funding, the Piedmont Region has repeated this with four further calls.

Living Lab as regional strategy to boost innovationThe Piedmont Region promotes user-driven innovation by supporting the design and implementation in its territory of Living Labs, with the aim of encouraging the active participation of users creating innova tive products and services in socioeconomic domains considered as strategic. The Living Lab approach is currently focused on the following topics: SMEs and the innovation cluster; local communities and the digital divide; intelligence mobility;

e-health; and agro-food. The promotion of Living Labs is also being experimented with in cross-border contexts through parti ci pa-tion in Euro pean projects (Alcotra Inno va-zione and CentraLab), with the aim of reinforcing the exchange of best practices and fostering the development of common methodo logies and models for userdriven open innovation. Within the ENOLL network, the Piedmont Region, supported by Finpiemonte, participates in a network called Living Piemonte. This important association has a two-fold purpose: to foster the competitiveness of private companies and to increase the social benefit associated with innovation. The network includes the twelve innovation clusters operating in the territory. Living labs are considered part of the clusters’ activity in order to support the transfer of the outcome of research and development of new products and services (which are supposed to be desirable in the market), encouraging inno-vators to transform their new ideas into marketable products and involving a broad test market during the development of products and prototypes.

Open Innovation

At the end of 2009, Piedmont Region launched the first call for research services funding, including open innovation services, addressed to the SMEs associated with


the innovation clusters. In particular, the so-called Specifications for facilitations for research services addressed to SMEs provides for the following services:• Intellectual property management; • Technology intelligence;• Support for conception and marketing

of new products and services;• Support for design use;• Support for innovative start-up busi-

nesses;• Open innovation (International know-

ledge networking);• Research and innovation qualified jobs

mobility.

The Open Innovation - International Knowledge Networking service aims to support innovation by providing information and communication instruments as well as consultant and advisory services directly, allowing enterprises to enter international knowledge networks in line with openinnovation and crowd-sourcing models for solving issues related to technology, services, products and processes innovation. SMEs will receive a grant equal to 75% of eligible costs up to 9,000.00 euros. Since 2009, five calls have been made, with 287 requests for funding for all services, and a total budget of about 15 million euros. Only 4 of the open innovation services requests were financed in the second call, with funding going to enterprises associated with the following clusters: digital creativity and multimedia, renewable energies and micro hydro, mecha tronics and advanced production system, and new mate rials. Although open innovation services received a luke-warm response, this service is still offered in each call. It is expec ted that there will be an increase in the number of requests through more publicity and more information.


Living PiemonteLiving Piemonte is a network of the Piedmont Region aiming at sustaining the transfer of research and development results

into new products and services which could be appealing to the markets. The creation of this network is considered to be an instrument for the regional innovation strategy, exploiting the potential of broadband technology intersected with innovation cluster policy and with programmes dedicated to the promotion of local development (inno-vation cluster) and the reduction of the digi tal divide (digital divide).

Innovation clusterThe Piedmont Region has created a network of 12 innovation clusters, and in addition to the clusters’ activities, the development of living labs has been promoted to encourage innovators to transform their ideas into marketable products and help them overcome some of the hurdles. This will be accomplished by using opportunities to involve a broad test market of products and prototypes in the development stage, to scale up and commercialise innovations.

Digital divideThe Piedmont Region has been carrying out interventions to overcome the digital divide for many years. As part of the WIPIE initiative in 2005, a major pilot project was launched, aiming at transforming isolated mountainous areas into digital territories, promoting sustainability and digital convergence, and developing a model to over come the hard digital divide. The actions carried out, with a total investment of around 90 million euros, focused on the supply of both broadband and services to all 1206 municipalities in the Piedmont Region. The added value of WIPIE is that it has brought Internet access to those places where no private investors would have invested. The idea of WIPIE was not only to create digital infrastructure, but also to promote and develop new services (inclu-ding VoIP, WiFi hotspots, remote environmental data monitoring, highquality tourism webcams, digital television and digital radio, and others), using broadband to do business and improve the quality of life for local people. As part of this initiative,

a Living Lab in the Orco and Soana Valleys was developed, known as the WiPie VOS. The project launched an openair lab to test the complete digitalization process in the Orco and Soana Valleys. The heart of the project was made up of a cooperation agreement between public and private entities, which worked together in planning the infrastructure and basic services. The project wrapped up in 2008 with the transfer of the network and related services to local authorities.

C.LAB PIEDMONT COMMUNITY LABSThe C.LAB - Thematic Laboratories for the Innovation Community of Piedmont – is a system of thematic laboratories serving the innovation community by promoting ICT technologies in the entrepreneurial system with respect to products, services and processes. This is an example of concrete coordination between universities, research organizations and SMEs, empowering local funding programmes and making possible the creation of a Community of Innovation as a space to exchange expe-riences, common interests, best practice and innovative ideas contributing to the growth of the regional and local economy. The main objective of the C.LAB’s activity is the empowerment of the produc tive capabi lities of the territorial system by supporting all its active actors through:• the identification of SMEs’ needs;• the development of strategic projects

for innovative content and the testing of innovative technologies;

• the identification, selection and realiza-tion of project proposals for the innovation of products, services and processes within the regional territory, in a precompetitive frame;

• the spreading of innovation throughout the regional territory; and,

• the launch of the Piedmont Innovation Community.

The C.LAB started in 2006, with the establishment of the reference model and with

the launch of the first C.LAB in Cuneo in the Food and Agricultural sector for the traceability of agricultural products (C.LAB Agrifood promoted by CSIPiedmont, Piedmont Region, Province of Cuneo, Municipality of Cuneo, University of Torino School of Agriculture). Subsequently a C.LAB was established in the field of health (C.LAB Health promoted by CSIPiedmont, Piedmont Region, University of Torino, CSP, I. S.

“M. Boella”).

CROSS-BORDER LIVING LABSThe Piedmont Region promotes cross-border living labs with the aim of improving cross-border cooperation potentialities in the field of knowledge and innovation, strengthening the exploitation of cross-border business/research opportunities, reinforcing the exchange of best practices and fostering the development of common methodologies and models. The Piedmont Region took part in two European projects aiming at the establishment of crossborder Living Labs and transregional ones in specific domains (namely, Alcotra Innovazione and CentraLab Central European Living Lab for Territorial Innovation). Their objectives are the establishment of cross-border/transregional Living Labs as a way to improve the competitiveness and innovation capacities of the territories; and the raising of awareness amongst policy makers of the Living Lab methodology.


How is the Region facing new trends in inno–vation and the goals set by the Euro-pe 2020 Strategy concerning research and innovation?Supporting R&D is one of the priorities of the up-coming programming period of the region, so as to boost the competitiveness of the production system in the Region.

We are actually working on the definition of the RIS3 and ROP ERDF at the moment, and one of the key factors of our strategy will be openness, in terms of collaborative research among enterprises, universities and research centres, and, at the same time, we want to foster collaboration between regional R&D actors at the national and European level. The parti-ci pation of civil society in the innovation process is also a very important factor that will also be taken into account in the next programming period according to a quadruple helix scheme.

In your experience, what is the current openness of Piedmontese SMEs to innovation processes?Piedmontese SMEs are not that familiar with the concept of open innovation. However, this does not mean that they do not practise open innovation acti vities. What is needed is more awareness, more coordinated actions and more cooperation between organisations in order to create synergy, combining the skills and expertise of SMEs, R&D players and universities, and leveraging existing assets and

Interview with Mrs. Erica Gay, Innovation, Research, Universities and Sustainable Energy Development Department Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Unit resources in order to have a greater impact at the regional and transnational level. In 2009,

the Piedmont region launched a policy of supporting the acquisition of innovative services, through apposite calls addressed to the enterprises associated with the innovation clusters. Furthermore, the region also participated, together with other European partners, in the three-year OpenAlps project. Our region was represented by CSP-ICT Innovation and the Polytechnic University of Turin, The aim of the project was to foster open innovation in Alpine SMEs. The project, which ended this year in July, proved that in recent years interest in the Open innovation approach has increased greatly, including amongst SMEs, which are not yet the main players adopting these new methods. However, there is still a lot to be done to promote open innovation at the regional, national and international level.

How will the Region support innovation in the next programming period? The region will allocate 37% per cent of the total amount of the ERDF for the investment priorities linked to thematic objective no. 1, which is “Strengthening research, innovation and technological development,” and is aimed at reaching the following specific objectives: Enhance enterprise innovation; Strengthen the regional innovation system by increasing cooperation and reinforcing research and innovation facilities; Promotion of new markets for innovation; Increase the impact of innovative specialisation in highly know-ledgeintensive areas.

Is the region implementing specific actions supporting open innovation and user-driven innovation in the upcoming programming period 2014/2020?As I mentioned, the ROP ERDF has a specific axis devoted to strengthening research, innovation and technological development. Some of the actions that will be implemented are:• Financial support for the acquisition of services related to R&I activities, development

of new products/services/processes, management consulting for strategic, organizational and marketing innovation;

• Supporting the participation of regional players in technological platform, network (national cluster) and other projects financed by other European programmes (Horizon 2020);

• Supporting the development of innovative solutions for specific social issues through the methodology of living labs, as well as implementation of these solutions;

• Supporting joint research activities to develop new sustainable technologies, products and services.

38 39Lubelskie regionPOLAND


Policy Context

In June 2014 the Board of Lubelskie Voivodeship accepted the Regional Innovation Strategy of Lubelskie Voivodeship by 2020, which is based on Lubelskie Region Development Stra-tegy 2006-2020 (LRDSV) for the development of R&D for smart specialisations.

In 2010, according to the data base of the Central Statistical Office of Poland, there were 67 entities in Lubelskie voivodeship involved in research and development. Characteristics of the R&D sector are as follows:• Growing expenditures on R&D, but still lower than the Polish average share of expendi-

tures on R&D in terms of gross regional product;• Low intensity of expenditures on R&D per capita and per employed person in the R&D

sector;• A lower-than-national-average degree of amortisation for R&D apparatus;• Growing patent activity, albeit still lower than the national average;• Very low BERD indicator in GDP;• Strong prevalence of expenditure on basic research versus expenditure on develop

ment research and applied research,• Small density of R&D entities per square kilometre, and a low number of workers in the

R&D sector as actively employed, in relation to the average for the country.

The cooperation of companies with the R&D sector in the region is very low (80,2% of companies lack such cooperation). The share of companies financing R&D in the region is also low, and lower than the average in the country.

38 39


According to the Dynamic Poland Strategy for Innovation and Economic Effectiveness for 20122020, not all knowledge needed by a company for its business activities can necessarily be found in the company’s resources, nor will all the results of its own R&D activity be used in key areas of its busi ness activity. Open innovations may be a catalyst for increasing the innovation of companies, especially SMEs, though imple-mentation of this model will require strong co-operation between entities. Addi tionally, it is important to promote open innovations and simultaneously to respect the rules of intellectual property. The parti ci pation of consumers in the process of creating new products and services (User-Driven Innovation – UDI) may be supported under measure 2.4.6 of the above-mentioned Strategy, the Popularisation of open inno vation models. Due to the fact that UDI is relatively unknown in Poland (the first attempts still being made in Lubelskie to define UDI) it is

advisable to focus first on activi ties aimed at increasing the awareness of potential

“makers of innovation” and users about the bene fits of UDI implementation. To be pre-cise, this relates to information-promotion acti vities in UDI and benefits for companies, as well as the publication of good practice and the organisation of confe rences, seminars and workshops in order to disseminate issues related to UDI.

Open Innovation

In June 2013, the Lubelskie Region completed the implementation of the Regional Collaboration Network Support project, financed within the framework of Operational Programme Human Resources Development (European Social Fund), Priority Axis VII Regional Economy Staff, Intervention Category 8.2 Knowledge Transfer, Intervention Subcategory 8.2.2 Regional Innovation Strategies.


The Regional Collaboration Network Sup-port project was a research project and its results contributed to the support of the inno vation system in Lubelskie Voivode ship. The results were also used to stimulate further development of cooperation networks and to update the Regional Inno vation Strategy of Lubelskie Voivodeship. Moreover, the project aimed at strengthening and expan ding mutual relations between science and business environments through the stimulation of entrepreneur ship focused on innovation.

Detailed objectives:1. Strengthening the process of know

ledge transfer between business and science;

2. Overcoming first contact barriers by enabling scientists who have not worked with entrepreneurs before to enter a collaboration network, on the basis of matching environments;

3. Obtaining information about the needs for innovative solutions of entrepreneurs from the Lubelskie Voivodeship.

The main objective of the project was to carry out at least 75 scientific research and development projects in cooperation with scientific and business communities.

After completion, the database was published on the Lublin online portal. This database consisted of a list of scientists, each of whom is a leader in innovation and in their field of activity, as well as a database of research problems reported by business environment. This database allows further development of cooperation and the exchange of experience between science and business, thereby strengthening the transfer of economic and technological knowledge.

Analysis of the project results resulted in recommendations for updates to the RIS of Lubelskie. An evaluation of the project inclu ded an estimate of the level of techno-logical advancement amongst enterprises in Lubelskie, demand for innovation, and the supply of innovation in the region.

User-Driven Innovation

TrendWiki is an online platform dedicated to entities in the food sector (including public institutions, companies, food clusters, and others) located in the Baltfood project area. The Baltfood project was co-financed by EU funds within the Baltic Sea Region Programme in 20082012 and was developed within the context of the partnership between 12 partners in 6 EU Baltic Sea countries, including Lubelskie Voivode ship. TrendWiki is an online platform that makes it possible to monitor changes in trends. Users can enter their recent observations and exchange findings; new trends can be spotted as soon as they emerge. For companies with limited resources, the ability to follow trends via TrendWiki and use this information to develop new products is especially valuable. The content of TrendWiki is determined by the community itself. As an open, web-based platform, the Baltfood TrendWiki is intended to be used by all those who follow the latest changes in the food industry or who would like to analyse nutritional trends.

By continually picking up new information, the system keeps its finger on the pulse of the times. Contents can be discussed, analysed and evaluated. In addition, examples give users an idea about the shape that marketable products might take, and enable them to respond quickly to trends.

40 41


Within the 2014-2020 financial framework, the Lubelskie Voivodeship must strive for effi-cient use of national and regional financial tools dedicated to innovation support services for SMEs, developing and testing new forms of business support.

RIS LV 2020 focuses on economic entities, while B+R institutions are found to be suppor-tive of the innovation process, as are all business environment entities.

The General Objective is the development of chosen sectors – namely bioeconomy, health and wellness services, IT and control engineering, and low carbon emission – to create interconnected areas within the voivodeship's loci of smart specialization.

Priority 1: Increased ability of business entities to create or absorb and to implement innovations in the areas of smart regional specialisation

Priority 2: Increased ability of B+R entities to create and commercialize knowledge in the areas of smart regional specialization

Priority 3: Strengthening of the innovation environment, working towards the development of areas of smart regional specialisation

The Regional Innovation Strategy of Lubelskie Voivodeship 2020 is an extension to Lubelskie Region Development Strategy 2006-2020 that deals with the analysis of the region’s innovation potential and recommends directions for its enhancement and use in regional development, especially when it comes to the development of regional smart specialisations. The RISLV is an ex ante condition when negotiating with the European Commission, the partner of the current Regional Operational Programme of Lubelskie Voivodeship in the 2014-2020 financial forecast, especially in the part dedicated to:• Strengthening research, technological development and innovation oriented towards

the enterprises sector in the Lubelskie region;• Enhancing access to, and use and quality of, ICT; and• Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs, including enterprises involved in agriculture,

fisheries, and aquaculture.

The aim of the RISLV update is to design means and tools which can be used to identify competitive dominances and exploit opportunities and the potential strengths of the Lubelskie Region. To achieve this aim, it was necessary to involve all the stakeholders, especially administration, the R&D sector, entrepreneurs and the region’s inhabitants, in the process of creating and implementing innovations. Thanks to public and private universities and R&D institutions, the Lubelskie region is one of the most important academic centres in Poland. Moreover, the region is the leader in the eastern macro region in terms of the number of clusters and clustering initiatives. Together with a rapidly increasing number of SMEs, the Lubelskie region has the potential to create, implement, diffuse and absorb innovations within the regional innovation system.


Thanks to planned activities in RISLV, accelerating the development of technologically advanced industries and services by using sectors with low production levels is expected. In addition, agriculture is seen as a system of connections in the added value chain.

Advanced activities conducted by different entities in the regional innovation system also allow the creation of an innovative regional brand. They promote a positive image of the region, supporting entrepreneurship, investments and the creation of new ideas and technologies. According to the RISLV outlines, the Lubelskie region will be a competitive region in chosen fields of specialisation, with a well-defined and well-managed innovation policy, and with an efficient, integrated regional innovation system.

Planned pilot projects include:• Regional research programmes in the areas of smart specialisations – aimed

at stimulating the supply of innovation through a regional research agenda for smart specialisations, as well as creating a regional technological observatory;

• Technological entrepreneurship – aimed at strengthening academic entrepreneurship in order to link demand and supply;

• Partnership, networks and clusters – aimed at strengthening the absorptive capacity of enterprises in the areas of smart specialisations;

• Regional growth centres – aimed at stimulating demand for innovations by impro ving the quality and efficiency of business support institutions;

• Financial engineering for innovation – aimed at reducing the financing gap at the early stage of development of technology;

• Public procurement of innovation – aimed at testing the efficiency of innovative public procurement, particulary direct, cooperative and pre-competitive procure-ment as instruments to stimulate demand for innovation.

Regional Innovation System in Lubelskie Voivodeship. Source: elaboration by Ph. D. Eng. Korneliusz Pylak

42 43

Interview with Mr. Sławomir Sosnowski, Marshal of Lubelskie Voivodeship, who is responsible for regional innovation policy

Today, the innovation policy of the Lubelskie region is based on a demand-driven approach that, first of all, takes into account the needs of enterprises, but also stimulates demand for innovation among businesses and triggers co-operation between science and business. Thanks to the participation of the business sector in the process of entrepreneurial discovery, from the very beginning the basic assumptions of our main innovation strategy document – Regional Innovation Strategy of Lubelskie Voivodeship 2020 – respond to the reallife needs of innovation policy stakeholders. Thus, financing tools, including national and regional structural funds, should be spent on the key areas for regional growth i.e. smart specialisations; bioeconomic areas, medicine and healthcare, IT and control engineering as well as lowcarbon energy. In order to reduce the distance to innovative EU regions, we should stimulate a cross-sectorial approach to net-working and we must be open to new solutions in the areas of smart specialisations. In co-operation with more advanced EU regions, by participating in networks, European projects and colearning sessions, Lubelskie can create a culture for innovation, as it is the pre-condition for long-term growth in the region.

44 45Bucharest-Ilfov regionROMANIA


Policy Context

Romania has no regional innovation authorities and no regional innovation policies. There fore, notions of institutional autonomy in the design and implementation of regional inno vation policies, institutional set-up, policy intelligence tools, and the coordination and implementation of regional innovation policies are not applicable. The regions do not have a role in innovation policymaking. National innovation policies are designed by the National Authority for Scientific Research (NASR), but they are still only at an early stage, and have traditionally been combined with R&D policies – which are much more advanced – without a clear differentiation between the two categories.

The 2005-2008 Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) was developed by the local Regional Development Agency (ADRBI) on the basis of its affiliation with the Innovating Regions in Europe (IRE) Network and by using EU support through FP6. However, because of the lack of a formal framework for regional innovation, RIS was considered to have only an orientation purpose and was not seen as part of a regional innovation policy or as having a mandatory character, so that its implementation was not significantly pur-sued after 2008. ADRBI, although not recognized as a regional innovation authority de jure, it performs de facto some of the tasks of such an authority, such as the coordination of some regional development projects that have a strong innovation dimension.

44 45


Regional innovation strategy project in the Bucharest-Ilfov region - RomaniaThe RIS Bucharest-llfov Project has used the RIS approach and methodology in order to develop and improve the Regional Innovation Strategy as well as the Regional Innovation Support System in the Bucharest-llfov Region of Romania, according to the actual needs of existing small- and medium-sized enterprises, so that their innovative and competitive potential can be increased. The Bucharest-llfov Region comprises the capital city of Romania, Bucharest, and its industrial and rural surroundings. 54% of Romania's research facilities, as well as the largest univer-sities, are located within the Bucharest-llfov Region. The project coordinator, the Regional Development Agency Bucharestllfov, supported by Regione Abruzzo of Italy, conducted a very successful RIS project, focusing on the adaptation of the regional economy to the requirements of global markets. This experience was complemented by the speci

fic RIS approaches of the participating regions, which were Lazio and Campania (Italy) and Western Macedonia (Greece). Through the Department of Productive Activities, Regione Lazio – the region of Italy where Rome is located – is member of the Thematic Net-work Innopolitan focusing on innovation in metropolitan areas; this experience was very useful for Bucharestllfov, that itself comprises the largest urban area in Romania. The participation in the project of the CRIMM Foundation (The Romanian Centre for SMEs), coordinator of the Romanian Innovation Relay Centre, ensured appro priate synergies between this project and the ongoing technology transfer activities.

Open Innovation

The following examples describe some of the publicly funded projects on this topic in the Bucharest-Ilfov Region:

Mobile pallet shredding and wood chip recycling machineThis project consists of SMEs and research organisations from the EU and from Central Europe, engaged in co-operative research to advance technology in the recycling of wood waste. The research objective is ambi tious, but a successful result will deliver an improved environment for Europe’s citizens, through a reduction in tree felling and through reduced landfill. The project also delivered a consortium of European SME's competing in world markets with a worldclass product. This project benefits from the contacts provided under the FP5 INCO project THNAPFP, and in proposal preparation from the resources assembled for the FP5 IPS Economic Intelligence project, STRAD. Technical data: Project Reference: G1ST-CT-2001-00263; Programme Acronym: FP5-GROWTH; Contract type: Exploratory awards; Key partners: Cumbria Crushing & Recycling Ltd (United Kingdom); Quatro Prodcom SRL (Romania).

46 47

•

Bucharest-Ilfov regionROMANIA

The FIBONACCI Project – Large-scale dissemination of inquirybased science and mathematics educationEuropean authorities and the international scientific community acknowledge the importance of InquiryBased Science and Mathematics Education (IBSME) to develop an integrated strategy for scientific literacy and awareness from primary to secondary school, reinforcing scientific careers. Scienceduc and Pollen FP6 projects as well as SINUSTransfer have successfully implemented IBSME in a large number of European cities. Europe is now facing the urgent need to disseminate such approaches and enable all member States to have access to, understand, and implement these approaches in ways that fit their own situations.

Going beyond sharing best practices and providing effective know-how transfer at the European level requires a dissemination model based on a systematic approach to IBSME at the grassroots level, ensured by intermediary structures with successful experience in local IBSME imple mentation.

The FIBONACCI project defined a dissemina-tion process from 12 Reference Centres to 24 Twin Centres, based on quality and global approach. This has been done through

the pairing of the former, selected for their large school coverage and capacities for the transfer of IBSME, with 12 Twin Centres 1 and 12 Twin Centres 2. These received training and tutoring for 2 years in order to become Reference Centres and start disseminating. Transversal work between partners was organised through 5 major topics, which were explored through European training sessions and led to European guidelines in order to structure a common approach at the European level.

External evaluation was done to check achie vement and quality. FIBONACCI thus led to a blueprint for a transfer methodology, which would be applicable in the building of further reference centres in Europe. The project was coordinated by the Superior Normal School (France), in scientific collaboration with Bayreuth University. The consortium included 24 members from 21 countries, with endorsement from major institutions. Key partners: Ecole Normale Superieure (France); Association Pour La Recherche Et Le Developpement Des Methodes Et Processus Industriels – Armines (France); University Of Leicester (United Kingdom); Universidad De Cantabria (España); Freie Universitaet Berlin (Deutschland); Institutul National De Cercetare Dezvoltare Pentru Fizica Laserilor Plasmei Si Radiatiei (Romania).

46 47

ROMNET-ERA - Romanian inventory and networking for integration into ERAThe ROMNET- ERA proposal addresses three strategic objectives of the general call of the ACC SSA, with the main emphasis being on the networking of highquality centres of research. The activities concentrate on Romania, preparing its integration into ERA; restructuring for integration into ERA is consi dered the only realistic chance for Roma nian research to become competitive.

The most important target groups at the national level were high-quality research centres and innovative SMEs. The identification, screening and networking of research groups (from three separate research systems: national R&D institutes, university research centres, and research units of the Romanian Academy) focused on some priorities of FP 6, catalysing partici pation in EU projects. The emphasis was on new materials and new technologies, and their implications for quality of life. Advanced soft ware technologies and the expe rience of one EU partner in knowledge management increased the efficiency of net working at the national level and

made it attractive for interaction at the regional and European levels.

The project consortium set up a structure to undertake individual actions for innovative SMEs, in order to increase their partici-pation in FP 6. Clustering of SMEs with research centres and universities, on occasion in science and technology parks, was also pursued. Such platforms of knowledge generation, dissemination and use, deve-loped with European support, are intended to bring elements of the new knowledgebased economy in Romania. Finally, on the occasion of the annual information events devoted to the presentation of the new FP 6 work programmes, the results of Romanian networking and participation in ERA were disseminated and promoted. Key partners: National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnologies, IMT-Bucharest, Romania; "Politehnica" University of Bucharest , PUB, Romania; National University Research Council, CNCSIS/NURC, Romania; Executive Unit for Financing High Education and University Research, UEFISCSU, Romania; Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Romanian Academy, ICIA/RACAI; Chamber of Commerce and

48 49Bucharest-Ilfov regionROMANIA

Industry of Romania and Bucharest / Centre of Investment Partnership in Romania - PART-INVEST, CCIR; iMediasoft®, Grenoble, France; iMediasoft®, Bucharest, Romania.

KNOWENTECHThe integration of Romania into Europe has brought an enormous number of new technologies intended to be transferred to the regional and national industries. It would certainly be difficult to understand and acquire such knowledge and competencies, unless the capacity to absorb such developments in less developed regions, and Romania as a whole, is increased.

The major objective of the project was to create and develop a real strategic and sustai nable partnership between academia and Industry, particularly SMEs, in Romania. This would be based on efficient information and technology transfer activi ties through the development of new inno vation structures such as science and technology parks. The specific objectives of the project were: to raise awareness of a competitive social-economic envi ronment for SMEs; promotion of best practices to break down


For the new 2014-2020 financing period, emphasis will be given to innovative areas and companies as well as to R&D activities. The Bucharest-Ilfov Region’s research policy will have to set a primary goal to plan and finance activities that help the region to move towards an economic model based on widespread knowledge and innovation, meant as services and social innovation, creative enterprises, production chain innovation, and inter nationalisation, rather than only as research investments.

Innovation awareness raising events need to be organised and system as well as strategical documents developed. Regional networks and cluster initiatives have to be supported together with joint projects in areas that have growth potential, such as energy technology, ICT, mechatronics, healthcare technologies, environmental protection and technology, bio technology, and materials technology.

barriers in inter-sectorial communication; creating a critical mass of technical and managerial resources and competences to achieve a strategic industryacademia partnership; and seeding knowledge in developing partner ships for technological transfers as part of an environmentally friendly development strategy.

The project aimed at preparing highly skilled human resources, able to build efficient entrepreneurial relationships with researchers and inventors. As a result, faster sustainable social and economic development in Romania will arise by implementing academic research results in industrial activi ties. Key partners: RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING S.A., Romania; OPTOELECTRONICA-2001 S.A., Romania; TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WEST MACEDONIA, Greece; KIKIS ABEE HEATING INDUSTRY S.A., Greece; CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIAISON-OFFICE IN BRUSSELS, Germany; KNOW IDEA CONSULTANTS, Portugal; STRUKTUR + STRATEGIE GMBH, Germany; DIULESCU ENGINEERING, Germany; LABORATÓRIO NACIONAL DE ENGENHARIA CIVIL, Portugal.

48 49

Interview with Mr. Dan Dumitru Nicula, General Manager, Regional Development Agency Bucharest-Romania

What is the situation of Bucharest-Ilfov Region regarding investments in the context of the European Union market?Current European trends reveal the increasing role of regions in global competitiveness. In this respect, as figures show, at present Bucharest ranks third, after Warsaw and Prague, among the most preferred locations for businesses amongst Central and Eastern Europe cities where foreign investors wish to extend their businesses.

What about the funds allocated to R&D as compared to other Romanian development regions?Despite the negative influence of the economic recession, statistics show that 58% of these funds are spent in the Bucharest-Ilfov Region. Region has the biggest number of R&D institutes and companies, compared with the rest of the country.

What kind of infrastructure has been developed in the Region to support innovation?We talk about science and technology parks, industrial parks, business and technological incubators, centres for technological transfer, centres for technological information – many of them established with the involvement of ADRBI, EU funds. There are seven clusters specialised in electronics, textiles, food processing, electrical engineering, aerospace industry, mechatronics, and automatic systems. In the new EU period a lot of money will be invested from EU Regional Development Fund in R&D infrastructure (especially for the ELI project in Magurele), which probably will have a leverage effect, attracting also important private investments.

50 51Scottish EnterpriseSCOTLAND


Policy Context

The overarching direction for Scotland’s future prosperity is articulated in the Government Economic Strategy (GES). The GES highlights innovation as a key economic driver, affecting the growth of productivity, companies and sectors, and also recognises innovation as being broader than the traditional focus on technology and R&D, requiring “input from numerous sources: customers, competitors, academia and other business.”

The delivery of Scottish Innovation policy is articulated in the business plans of Scottish Enter prise (SE), Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council. SE’s Inno vation approach is directed largely through the key sectors and by working directly with growth potential businesses. The aim is to expand the number of innovative companies and quicken the commercialisation process, leading to faster market-ready products and services. SE has various mechanisms to deliver innovation support directly to businesses, along with a number of key sector projects prioritizing innovation. Other funded organisations and trade bodies also support the innovation system.

The main growth sectors in Scotland are: Creative Industries; Energy; Financial Services; Food & Drink; Life Sciences; Technologies & Engineering; and Tourism. These specialisations are expected to outperform the average and to provide a disproportionate impact on the economy. Therefore, development of key industry strengths is a big focus. All these sectors have Industry Leadership Groups, comprising industry, academia and public sector experts, who set the vision, strategic direction, and ambitions for the sector, and the sector strategies outline the aims and objectives, with clear innovation aspirations, for each sector.

50 51


Open Innovation

Enterprise Europe ScotlandEnterprise Europe Network Scotland provides free services to Scottish businesses to:• Find Business Opportunities• Apply for European Funding• Research new markets• Participate in European collaborative

R&D• Access European Tenders and Contracts• Commercialise new technologies, imp

rove products and services

It helps Scottish companies with ambitions to grow by providing a wealth of infor mation on doing business, finding collabo rative partners and increasing their competitiveness in Europe. www.enterpri-se-europe-scotland.com

InterfaceInterface has developed and successfully applied intelligent brokerage mechanisms to facilitate university-industry relation ships in the UK. Interface comprises 24 partner Universities and Research Institutes across Scotland and enables the companies to tap into their world-leading expertise across a wide range of disciplines from science, engi neering and technology to arts and humanities. It aims to:• provide a central point of access to the

knowledge, expertise, services and facilities available from Scottish Universi-ties and Research Institutes for industry and commercial organizations;

• provide detailed expressions of interest on the capability and capacity in response to enquiries;

• stimulate demand by companies across all sectors and sizes (in particular SMEs) for expertise and commercial oppor-tunities;

• filter and direct enquires to individual research groups and monitor progress

of enquiries until a conclusion is reached including support and guidance on funding options

Now in its tenth year, it has introduced over 1721 businesses to academic partners and initiated 989 company and university collaborative projects. http://www.interface-on-line.org.uk/

Scottish Intellectual Asset CentreThis organisation helps companies in Scotland to manage their intellectual assets. The team works closely with the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and uses their IPO IP Audit fund to support businesses to undertake IA/IP Audits. In a year, the team typically works with more than 400 businesses, usually starting with a diagnosis with 75% of clients, and then moving on to develop some form of "IA action plan”. In relation to open innovation, the team helps businesses to:• Ensure they have an appropriate pro

tection strategy and measures in place as they enter negotiations;

• Identify market opportunities and be confident that they have freedom to operate in relation to existing patents (registered by others);

• Consider the most appropriate route to exploitation (thinking more widely about how this can be achieved with others e.g. through licensing).

Tourism Innovation Programme - Destinations and ProductsSE has developed a strategy around a number of key destinations and products for the Tourism sector. It helps businesses to identify market opportunities and work together to exploit these opportunities through use of market intelligence, learning from good practice, and investing in the development of new and improved products and services.


Two key tools deployed include Tourism Intelligence Scotland (TIS), providing latest market intelligence, and Tourism Innovation Toolkit, which involves facilitated workshops and techniques to help businesses generate ideas in a collaborative and open environment. The Tourism Innovation Fund supports innovative ideas emerging from this activity. The Listening to our Visitors guide and workshops help businesses under stand their customers and develop ways of adapting products and services to meet increasing expectations (demand-driven innovation).

TIS provides an online destination development toolkit for area groups and marketing organisations to work together in an open and collaborative way to develop new and improved Tourism experiences and offerings. Collaborative working is encouraged and suported in key product areas such as business tourism, golf, sailing and mountain biking, amongst others, to deliver an enhanced visitor experience. www.tourism-intelligence.co.uk

Demand-Driven Innovation

Technology Strategy Board – SBRI SchemeThe Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) of the UK Government’s Innovation Agency – Technology Strategy Board (TSB), uses public procurement to drive innovation. It provides opportunities for innovative companies to engage with the public sector to solve specific problems; and enables the public sector to engage with industry during the early stages of development, supporting projects through the feasibility and prototyping stages. Competitions are run by a number of departments on a range of different challenges, and the success-ful bidding companies receive finance, in the form of an procurement order, for the feasibility and prototype development. The key stages are:• A government department identifies

a specific challenge;• The challenge is turned into an open

competition advertised on the TSB/SBRI website;

• Companies with innovative ideas submit an application in response;

• Submitted ideas are assessed and the most promising ideas are awarded deve lopment contracts.

52 53

First feasibility contracts are generally 2-6 months in duration and a maximum of £100,000. Secondstage winners may be awarded a contract which can last up to 2 years and a maximum of £1M. After the second phase, companies are expected to commercialise the resulting product or service which is taken to market and open to competitive procurement. www.innova-teuk.org/deliveringinnovation

Offshore and Marine RenewablesThe presence of 25% of Europe’s total wind resources in Scotland, and the Scottish Go-vern ment’s target to source 100% of electri-city requirements and 11% of heat by 2020 from wind, makes offshore rene wable energy a big opportunity for sutainable economic growth in Scotland. Scotland has therefore embarked on creating a globally competi-tive offshore energy industry, requiring collaboration and integration across the public and private sector. SE support includes:• Investment in the Industry – focussing

on using public funds to leverage private-sector investment and supporting companies wishing to invest.

• Infrastructure Investment – A £70m National Renewables Infrastructure Fund to strengthen port and manufacturing facilities and supply-chain provision for manufacturing offshore wind turbines and components.

• Innovation – Providing support for innovation and diversification in the supply chain for offshore wind and facilities for developing, testing and demonstrating technology.

The potential market growth and demand is being used to stimulate the development of the sector. This involves an extensive offsho-re wind support programme to provide infor mation, advice, expertise and funding to companies wishing to pursue the oppor tunity. A supply chain directory has been developed with supply companies able to register their capability and potential buyers able to search for particular skills and capability.

Food and Drink Health Innovation ServiceA key area for development in this important sector is healthy foods, estimated to be worth £20 billion in the UK and more than £300 billion globally. The Food and Drink Health Innovation Service provides a range of practical support to help businesses realise opportunities in the healthy food and drink products market, including:• Identifying and understanding market

opportunities• Scoping new product ideas, including

where to find solutions and resolve technical issues

• Identifying appropriate sources of funding for new projects

The project provides an understanding of key themes in terms of ingredients, manufacturing, reformulation, performance and ageing. www.foodhealthinnovation.com

Supercomputing ScotlandThe project aims to encourage and support Scottish companies so as to gain commercial advantage in the development of new products and processes through the use of Scotland’s outstanding High Performance Computing (HPC) assets and capability at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre. The project stimulates user-driven innovation by demonstrating to the company how HPC technology can be used to investigate and predict the performance of new processes, products or services.

It provides free 1:1 feasibility support to companies including a surgery, initial inves-tigation and a detailed feasibility study. This should provide the companies with the information to make a decision about proceeding with an HPC project and apply for finanacial support from SE.

“DALLAS” - Delivering Assisted Living LifestylesThe aim is to provide Assisted Living to peop le with long-term medical conditions and to help them interact with their carers,


National Health Service (NHS) and family. The project is managed by NHS 24 (the National Health Service contact centre) on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The project requires technology for health monitoring and social networks for communication, and creates a marketplace for indi-viduals to purchase products and services

online, as well as PR and marketing to encourage the development and adoption of new products. It is jointly funded by the Enterprise Agencies, Scottish Govern ment, Technology Strategy Board, NHS trusts and social care partnerships. The partners are drawn from many sectors including technology, creative industries, acade mia and government (NHS and Councils).


The evidence that public sector procurement can benefit national economies through supporting innovation is increasingly compelling. Most of the public procurement is for large capital projects and commodities, with a small proportion for procuring solutions to a new need from the public sector that can provide a real drive for innovation and can create new markets. Normally, procurement is undertaken against an agreed specification and the principal objective is to achieve best value which often equates with lowest cost. Buying to an unmet “need” is more a product development-cum-innovation mindset than a procurement mindset, requiring building an outline requirement specification (using best knowledge at the time) around an existing, high-impact, unmet customer need and supplier capability, all within a tight legislative framework. Given the potential focus on this area as outlined in Horizon 2020 framework, Scottish Enterprise is looking to explore areas of cooperation with TRES partners and others to identify and transfer good practice in this area.

54 55

Interview with Mr. Jim Watson, Senior Director of Enterprise & Innovation Services at Scottish Enterprise

“We launched our new approach to innovation in January 2014; a major new stand of activity is focussed on demand-led innovation, boosting demand for inno vative new products and services driven from our large corporates and our public services.

The hardest part of the innovation process is often the exploitation phase. We know that projects involving customers, from the outset, are more likely to lead to products and/or services that will succeed in the marketplace, and if that customer is internationally orientated, projects are more likely to succeed in the export market.

We have established the Seek & Solve programme, which will encourage large companies (both Scottish and international) to look to Scottish SMEs for innovative solutions to their challenges. The programme will encourage greater collaboration in innovation bet-ween these large organisations and innovative Scottish SMEs and will ensure that the first customer or user of the new product or service is already in place, or at very least that the product or service of the Scottish SME has been trialled by a potential customer.

We also recognise the value of using public procurement to drive more demand for innovation solutions that can open up new markets for Scottish SMEs. The challenge is sometimes in finding the unmet need in the public sector that can serve as the stimulus for innovative activity in SMEs, and in finding ways to encourage pre-procurement activity to help SMEs to come up with new and innovative solutions for the public sector’s unmet needs.

In developing our new policy, we have found meeting with and discussing innovation approaches with the TRES partners to be invaluable in the creation of our new innovation policy.”

56 57Basque Country SPAIN


Open Innovation and User Driven Innovation

Euskadi has a long and deep industrial tradition, in fact, the competitiveness of this sector is very well considered at European level. In order to maintain this competitiveness, during the last 3 decades the Basque Government has implemented many and different measures aimed at the quality, innovation and technology improvement. Moreover, science, technology and innovation policies have been established, desig-ned to support the already existing industrial sectors and prepare them to face the challenges of the future. It is worth mentioning the capacity of Euskadi for self-govern ment in several aspects. This fact may not be very common in other regions, and it has been crucial in the region.

Nowadays, the way innovation works is changing, with direct influence in the poli-cies. The access to knowledge and external collaboration, particularly between public and private entities, is becoming more and more important for the innovation

process, creating a favourable atmosphere for re open innovation. The omnipre sence of technologies based on science requires more links scienceindustry. Policies to support innovations not only based on technology (such as organi zation and market innovation) are now much more demanded. Service sector innovations are on the increase. Inter and intrasectorial links promote the innovation throughout the economy. On the other hand, user driven innovation has a bigger role as innovation driven force. Open innovation and demand driven innovation concepts have every time more influence during the poli-cies development process.

The interest for Euskadi reflect on the adoption of this type of innovation is evident considering the type of our business sector, based on SMEs. If the traditional view of innovation is increasingly less sense in large companies, have much less sense for small, competing in the same markets. Access to external resources can be a competi-tive outlet for Basque companies. Open innovation would allow them to accelerate the pace of innovations through the use of multiple internal and external sources of knowledge. At the same time, would allow them to take advantage of third parties to commercialize. In short, there are many poten tial benefits of the permeability of open innovation in the competitiveness of companies, to improve the efficiency of innovation. Also, the wealth of know ledge sources facilitates the diversification of their products and services, and thus may better compete in the global market.

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Innovation in Euskadi has been a corner-stone from the outset of the programmes and actions for the business sector, as its design, management and implementation has been undertaken based on open innovation, collaborating with persons and entities that possess the knowledge in this field. This new way of working and thinking has even come from the public administration, who has received support from technology centers, experts, clusters, universities, research centres, the Basque Science Network, Technology and Innovation, etc., in order to design, manage and display its initiative and programmes.

The open innovation paradigm, at least some of its main characteristics, has been taken into account from the very beginning in the science, technology and innovation policies. Thus, concepts related with open innovation as cooperation and networks between diffe-rent agents of the Basque innovation system, have been very deeplyrooted from the very first policies, especially those related to technology and industry. It was during the mid-2000s when a bigger attention was paid to the open innovation concept considering this as a key concept in the science, technology and innovation policy. Likewise, the Manifest for Innovation in the Basque Country, which has been adhered to by nume rous agents, integrated and promoted the values of open innovation to society as a whole and to enterprises in particular.

Innovation is understood as a value creative process touching the whole economy and involving all the actors of the society.

Innovation is no longer understood as a science based invention resulting from systematic R&D efforts of a company, but rather as a value creation process resulting in commercially successful product or service, or process innovation, organizational novelties and innovations in marketing that improves the productivity and value creation potential of the firm. Innovation acti-vities involve number of different actors as cooperation and networking are seen as very important elements. The following examples describe some publicly funded projects identified at the Basque region:

Open Innovation

Mondragon Open InnovationMondragon Open Innovation is a pioneering open innovation exercise whose purpose is to promote the generation of new business opportunities, diversification and improved competitiveness of the businesses of Mondragon corporation (http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/language/en-US/ENG.aspx) through collaborative innovation. It aims to foster collaboration opportunities likely to generate products, services and new businesses that respond specifically to the needs raised by Mondragon firms coming to market in the short term. This initiative is launched in collaboration with the Department of Industry, Inno vation, Trade and Tourism of the Basque Government.In this pilot project Agents of the Basque Science and Technology submit expressions of interest to propose technologies, intellectual property and business concepts that respond specifically to the needs expressed by companies of Mondragon. These expressions of interest should be directed to the generation of business opportuni ties in the short term. Therefore, proposals should respond to any of the following cate gories:• Intellectual property assets that could

be exploited commercially by companies• Established technological developments

which can be incorporated into existing products

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• Projects developed in the recent past that can be reproduced in the form of an off er to add market value.

EuskampusThis project was the product of an initi a-ti ve leaded by the UPV/EHU (Basque Public University) in the 2015 University Strategy belonging to the Ministry of Educati on. The Basque Public University, in order to launch this project, has the strategic collaborati on of two other knowledge and in-novati on agents, nati onally and internati o-nally speaking. These agents belong to the Basque Country: TECNALIA, Corporación Tecnológica and the Donosti a Internati onal Physics Center Donosti a (DIPC).

Euskampus has been consti tuted in order to become a key element in the achievement and development of relevant economic and social values throughout the Basque Country, showing as a moti vator aggregati on and inter nati onally competi ti ve research, inno-vati on and environ mental economics.

The knowledge poles are in the heart of the Euskampus project and they have been designed, and thought as a strategic element that serves to concentrate and categorize all acti viti es of the areas of educati on, investi gati on, innovati on and transfer into each of the specializing areas.

Cooperati ve Research Centres A CIC (Cooperative Research Centre) isatypologyofScientific-TechnologicAgentformed to develop the Basque Research capaciti es in the Strategic Knowledge Lines defi ned by the Government R&D&I policies. It can be considered is a type of new Scienti fi c-Technologic Agent rising from other Agents which works in coordinati on with them. It represents a net increment of the research capacity of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovati on Network

The CICs bring a “Change of the Research and Innovati on Culture”, joining the eff orts

of the researchers of Universiti es and Re-search Centres, in collaborati on with the most advanced industries getti ng real bene-fi ts to the R&D&I scenario, thus, they foster the collaborati on between the Science (and their various disciplines) and the technology.


Living Labsn Ergolab Ergolab is an initi ati ve, promoted by the Department of Industry, Innovati on, Trade and Tourism of the Basque Government, through its Innovati on Department. The initi a ti ve emerged in early 2012 as part of the Digital Agenda for Euskadi 2015 strategy. It is aligned with the concepts of

“living lab “and” digital ergonomics “.

ErgoLab is a laboratory aiming at involving these two actors: citi zens / users and SMEs in the current innovati on scheme of the Basque Country. This initi ati ve has been launched for addressing human and corporate needs in a technological Informati on System reallife scenarios and thus be able to converge the two actors, system’s users and developers.

The main Themati c Domain Network, thanks to a methodology of combining User-Driven Open Innovati on and User-Centred Design, is the “eParti cipati on & Media” Network, but also contribute to

58 59Basque Country

a criti cal transversal themes for Living Labs such as “User Expe rience and Behavior, Models and Metrics”. Its main objecti ve is to help companies deve lop new products in the digital sector to ensure their digital ergonomics. It’s about creati ng digital ser-vices or products more accessible and easy to use for citi zens. By ‘living laboratory’ (Living Lab), involving end users and analy-sing their real needs.

The mission of ERGOLAB as Living Lab is to enable involve users, whether SMEs or indi viduals in all phases of a design process. The initi ati ve is an open space where the collecti ve knowledge and public and priva-te actors are involved: • Creati ng a collaborati ve space to work

with the Basque Country Government, specifi cally with the Department of Health and Industry, to analyze and gather the views and needs of citi zens and users related to the interacti on with informati on systems in healthcare and consumer projects. Sciencetechnology-innovati on agents from the Basque Government are represented, together with the University of Deusto, Tecnalia Research and Innovati on, and the cluster of technology, communicati ons and electronics (GAIA).

• Implementi ng the methodology in the design of informati on systems and expe rience in the parti cipati on of users and citi zens to innovate, to co-create and codesign in four reallife scenario, involving over 500 users. The initi ati ve is addressed to the whole of society, including citi zens, companies, associa-ti ons, entrepreneurs and insti tuti ons who want to go for a model of codesign and co-creati on, in additi on to creati ng a network of trust relati onships.

The ageing and chronic disease market emerged as a great opportunity to business diversifi cati on, capable of generati ng new jobs, business growth, scienti fi c-tech-

nological development and competi ti ve-ness. The change in the model of care to chronic pati ents that is taking place in the case of the Basque Country is encouraging the development of specifi c capabiliti es of the regional supply chain. By adapti ng the care to the risk level of each pati ent, by integrati ng care levels at home and care centres, increasing remote and virtual care, by practi cing preventi on proacti vely - and underpinning the whole process with the incorporati on of new products and servi-ces. To ensure that the industry is going to be capable of off ering the products and services that the health system needs, it is proacti vely involved in the co-development of those products and services capable to tackling the global needs of ageing and chro nic illnesses.

Several sectors of the Basque Country have specifi c competences to att end some needs of this market. So a wide range of R&D support programmes, are available for the companies that work in this sector in the Basque Country. Other specifi c structures that will facilitate the development and implementati on of the pro-ducts and services capable of serving the internati onal health market are starti ng up their opera ti ons are: the Innovati ve Public Procurement Unit, the Demonstrati on Unit and the Compared Eff ecti veness unit that have been set up. The Basque Country through the involvement of the public and private agents, the technological, socio-health and health innovati on, research structures, and the users, are turning the Basque Country into a Living Lab for ageing and chronic disea ses. Proof of this is that it is one of the regions that aspire to be internati onally recognized as a benchmark region by the European Innovati on Partnership (EIP) in Acti ve and Healthy Ageing (AHA).

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Our main objective is to increase the competitiveness of Basque industry by adding value. More than the 30 percent of the GDP of the Basque Country depends on internatio nali-zation, and to maintain those levels we must consistently incorporate cutting-edge technology and innovation into the processes and products of our companies. In addition to R&D support programs for companies, in the Basque Country have a very powerful network of scientific and technological entities.

We are a region that invests 2.2 percent of its GDP in R&D, which puts us above the average of Spain (1.3 percent) and Europe as a whole. However, the challenge is to translate this investment into more and better products that can obtain market success. Another challenge is to ensure that research results reach the market.

With regards to the RIS3 (Smart Specialization Strategy) exer-cise of the Basque Country in the industrial field, we have three priorities – namely energy, advanced manufacturing, and life sciences – but attention can also be given to new areas of opportunity such as smart cities, clean energy, and the envi-ronment. To address these areas, we need to combine technologies and the capabilities of several clusters. The challenge at this point is to overcome the traditional sectorial approach and get to a transsectorial and intercluster vision.

It is in this context where open and customeroriented innovation tools provide us with a great opportunity to overcome identi fied challenges, bringing together diverse actors and capa bi lities with the intention of contributing to the develop ment of initiatives, approaches and solutions with high added value.

Interview with Mr. Alex Arriola, General Director of SPRI - Basque Business Development Agency

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