EcoRIS3 Policies & Measures to Support Local & Regional Innovation Ecosystems John Hobbs Tamara Espiñeira - Atlantic Cities

ecoRIS3
Policies & Measures to Support Local
 & Regional Innovation Ecosystems

           John Hobbs
         Tamara Espiñeira
                     Atlantic Cities General Assembly
                     22nd October 2019

ecoRIS3 PROJECT
INTERREG EUROPE Research and Innovation project

Main goal: develop local innovation plans under Regional Innovation
Systems – by promoting sustainable enterprises and contributing to
regional economic growth and employment.

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ECORIS3 PROJECT
7 partners from 7 countries
working together to enhance
their     local    innovation
ecosystems by the mean of
RIS3 strategies.

1 transnational advisor

        Project Budget: 1,724,163 € (85%funding rate)   3

OVERALL OBJECTIVE

Foster international cooperation to help promoting better
policies and measures to orchestrate sustainable local
and regional innovation ecosystems with RIS3
strategies.

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ecoRIS3 Targets

      Target nº 1: to enhance innovation ecosystems within
      RIS3 strategies responding to the existing
      challenges and gaps.

      Target nº 2: to generate solid interactions between
key   stakeholders to orchestrate sustainable innovation
      ecosystems:

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TOPICS ADDRESSED

                Workshops                                      Seminars

• WS1:Public Sector as Orchestrator of            • S1: “Quadruple Helix & RIS3”. March
  ecosystems of innovation and Smart                19, Portugal
  Specialization ( June 17, Portugal)

• W2: RTO & High Education players, (Oct-Nov      • S2:“eHealth & Ecosystem”, June 19,
  17, Ireland)                                      Italy

• W3: Civil Society in search of emancipation
  through tools and platforms (June 18, Latvia)   • S3: “Connecting Brains” (Talent &
                                                    RIS3)” Oct 19, Finland
• W4: Successful cooperation and experiences
  between Business & Science,(Oct, 18
  Lithuania)

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Workshops & Study Visits

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ecoRIS3 Targets

        Target nº 3: to propose policies and measures to
        Support Local & Regional Innovation Ecosystems

How?
 7 Action Plans (by dec.2019): to specify what will be done in each
  region to ensure that the lessons learnt from the cooperation project
  are put into action.
 Action Plans Implementation, monitoring and evaluation (2020-
  2021)

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Technical implementation

PHASE 1 (Jan 2017- Dec 2019)
                                      PHASE 2 (Jan20-Dec21)
 EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES:
 Workshops, study visits, Seminars   EXCHANGE OF
 Regional stakeholder group          EXPERIENCES:
  meetings and active involvement     Implementation, monitoring and
 Peer review                         evaluation of the action plans
 SWOT analysis
 Action Plans                        COMMUNICATION
                                      ACTIVITIES: Final
 COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES:           Dissemination event
 Newsletters, social media
                                      PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT:                 Yearly meeting and reporting of
 Reporting every 6 months            costs & results

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Policy Learning Platform

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Strengths of ecoRIS3 application
 Topic high on EU agenda
   (improving innovation ecosystems in areas of
   smart specialisation)

 Clear focus on Structural Funds programmes (all
  policy instruments), and involvement of project
  partners with clear policy relevance.

 Builds on similar Interreg Europe projects
  (INKREASE, HIGHER, CLUSTERS3)

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Policy change:

                          OP for Investing European Structural and
                          Investment Funds 2014-2020
                          Improvement of an already existing innovation voucher scheme
                          Lack of results since the launch of the innovation voucher in 2015
                          Innovation voucher, rebranded as “InoStartas LT”, now covers three
                          steps of the TRL (technology readiness level): technical feasibility study
                          (up to TRL3), but also support for mature SMEs to design their products
                          (TRL3 - TRL6, and TRL7 - TRL9)
                          OP has been updated with “InoStartas LT” scheme, 358 820 EUR
Partner: Sunrise Valley   already granted to 19 companies
Science and Technology
park, Vilnius (LT)        Inspiration from: “Technology Voucher” developed by Fomento San
                          Sebastian (ES)

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Policy change:

                          Southern and Eastern Regional OP 2014-
                          2020
                          Development and enhancement of a co-working space in Cork
                          First inspiration from co-working space found in San Franciso
                          COwoRK City with more than 1300 m² surface, hosts 15 start-ups
                          Located at Civic Offices, hosted companies benefit from mentoring by
                          Cork City Council Local Enterprise Offices (LEO)
                          Next step: build on this concentration of start-up and develop new
Partner: Cork Institute
                          national cluster CYBER Ireland
of Technology (IE)
                          Inspiration from: co-working space Skola6 (LV) and LinkArts factory (LT)

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ecoRIS3
       Inspiring Urban Innovative Actions
UIA Question: Is my project innovative?
ECORIS3 provides for a wide range of good practice on innovation ecosystems, allowing to
compare the proposed initiative. Thus, it also allows for a benchmark (or a baseline)

ECORIS3 good practice was submitted to a pool of experts that decided if the good practice was
really innovative and unique – therefore establishing a method to measure, test and improve
initiatives.

UIA Question: Is the proposed partnership relevant?
ECORIS3 examined how the 4 dimensions can influence and improve an innovation ecosystem:
public sector, private sector, academia and civil society. It also analyzed how to remove barriers
to co-development, how to increase collaboration and how to identify obstacles and avoid silos.

Moreover, each territory of the project developed an Action Plan where all stakeholders are
involved since the beginning, both the agents that seem evident and those not so obvious, who
can also foster an action from a different sector.

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ecoRIS3
      Inspiring Urban Innovative Actions
UIA Question: Are the proposed project and its expected results
measurable?
Every good practice submitted by the project was accompanied by a range of indicators that may
serve as examples to identify and quantify outputs and results.

Action Plans of ECORIS3 also define target groups. Moreover those plans should forecast a
monitoring and evaluation system.

UIA Question: Is the proposed action transferable?
That is the main goal of ECORIS3! Finding solutions that can be used all over Europe, without
loosing sight of territorial realities.

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Merci!
       Dr John Hobbs,
       Senior Lecturer, Department of Management and Enterprise,
       Cork Institute of Technology. Rossa Avenue, Bishopstown, Cork.

       Mobile: 00353 86 8091294         Office: 00353 21 4335149
       Email: john.hobbs@cit.ie         Skype: jhobbs.cit

                                                        www.interregeurope.eu/ecoris3

Questions welcome