Tartu and South-Estonia Region Rene Tõnnisson & Marek Tiits Institute of Baltic Studies Tartu and South Estonia . Tartu •Population - 350 000 inhabitants •Area – 15 000 sq Km •Main economic sectors – Forrest-Wood, Metalworks-Machinery, Food, Textile Estonian Regions Main Features of Tartu and South-Estonia Region • From one hand dominated by traditonal economic sectors, such as wood-forestryfurniture, metalworks-machinery, agriculture-food, textile-clothing • From another hand the leading research, education and medical centre of Estonia with up to 2/3 of total national research effort Tartu Regional Innovation System Strong University as a dominant stakeholder Population of City of Tartu: 100 000 inhabitants 25 000 University Students University of Tartu founded in 1632 and the only classical university in Estonia with 11 faculties from Theology to Medicine Tartu Model for Strengthening Tartu Regional Innovation System Short overview of Institute of Baltic Studies • Established in 1995 as independent research and development centre • Currently acting as policy development “think tank” focusing mainly on industrial, innovation, technology and regional development policies • Active involvement in Tartu RIS project including carrying out foresight on 2 key areas ICT and Biotech