Transnational collaboration for innovation:
Services of the S3 Platform
John Edwards
MED programme capitalisation
conference
Marseille, 2 April 2014
1
The S3 Platform

Designed to assist regions
and countries in developing
RIS3

Launched in June 2011

Managed by JRC-IPTS in
Seville

Monitored by a Steering
Team incl. DG REGIO, RTD,
ENTR, EAC, INFSO, AGRI
EU Countries registered: 14
EU Regions registered 146
Non-EU Regions registered: 2
S3P Peer-reviewed Countries: 8
S3P Peer-reviewed Regions: 45
Main activities of S3 Platform in support of the
countries/regions preparing RIS3
7. Research agenda
Eye@RIS3
1. The RIS3
methodological
Guide
2. Peer Review
workshops & transnational learning
6. Interactive tools, S3
Newsletter and Website
5. Thematic
workshops &
working groups
4. RIS3 assessment
and support to REGIO
desks
3. Country- and Macroregion events and
targeted seminars at
IPTS
3
S3 Peer Review Methodology
- a tool for mutual transnational learning
Phases
S3 Methodology elements
Some Experiences
Preparation
Template and deadlines
Self-assessment
Support
+
+
+
+
Workshop
Group
discussions
+ Network possibilities
+ Mix of nationalities,
+ Mix of peers, experts and EC staff
+ Feedback from experts and peers
+ Informal and trusted environment
+ Participatory approach - Facilitation
the key to success
Assessment by experts and
peers
Key insights
Community of practice
Follow up
Data-triangulation
Feedback report
+
+
+
+
Push process forward
Awareness raising
Stakeholder engagement
Genuine self-reflections
Legitimacy
Dissemination at home
Attention to new elements
Further assessment
Synergies in R&I funding
The European Parliament and Council made it clear that this [synergies] approach is no
more a "nice to have" but a "need to implement" (draft EC SWD)
Synergies can be achieved:

Through bringing together H2020 and ESIF in the same project (that could be
a single action or a group of coordinated actions/operations, but always
provided that there is no double funding in the same expenditure item);

Through successive projects that build on each other or;

Through parallel projects that complement each other.
In addition, if the ESIF programmes are designed and implemented accordingly,
they can be used for funding high quality H2020 project proposals with a score
above the threshold, for which there is not enough H2020 budget available.
Synchronisation of the timing of the funding decisions under Horizon 2020 and
ESIF is a crucial issue for enabling the cumulation of funding in the same project.
5
Horizon 2020: Spreading excellence
and widening participation
New Part III-a in Horizon 2020, budget c. €800m:
 Teaming (Centres of Excellence)
 Twinning (institutional networking)
 ERA Chairs (bringing excellence to institutions)
 Policy Support Facility and strengthening of NCPs
 Special programme from COST on Widening actions
6
Synergies and ESIF allocation
flexibility
Article 70(2) CPR stipulates a possibility of allocations to operations
outside the programme area, up to:
•
15% of the ERDF, CF, EMFF at the level of the priority
•
5% of the support from the EAFRD at the level of the programme
•
3% of the budget of a European Social Fund (ESF) operational
programme
Article 96(3)d: OPs shall describe arrangements for interregional and
transnational actions within the (mainstream) OPs with beneficiaries
located in at least one other Member State.
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S3P activities to support collaboration
•
Facilitating mutual learning and knowledge sharing
•
Alignment of roadmaps:
• Fostering alignment between European, national and regional
innovation roadmaps;
• Promoting synergies and co-investment opportunities (e.g. in the
context of Horizon 2020 and the “stairway to excellence”);
• Support the creation of groups around common themes to work with
territorial co-operation strand of the EU cohesion policy.
• A specific focus on EU macro-regional strategies
• Link to the 2014-2020 INTERREG VC programme
What can the Platform do in relation to
collaboration?
•
•
Analysis
•
Inter-regional collaboration in
RIS3
•
RIS3 guide
•
KETs report
Match making – bottom up
identification
•
Facilitate mutual learning – with aim
to perform better at home
•
Peer reviews
•
Thematic events
•
Arrange for Twinning – co-development
•
Training of collaboration process
leaders
Self-discovery
EYE@RIS3
•
•
•
•
For thematic platforms??
Nudging - top down allow for bottom up
Tool for Structural Regional
Benchmarking
•
Thematic events, e.g. Role of
universities
•
Initiation of collaboration
Connecting RIS3 in the BSR
Support and follow collaborative
processes e.g. new Adriatic-Agean
strategy
Eye@RIS3 – an online database for RIS3
priorities
• Enable Regions and Member
States to position
themselves,
• To find their unique niches
• To seek out potential
partners for collaboration
• Categories are not perfect
matches
• Approx 130 regions and 800
priorities
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/map
Unpacking Interregional collaboration
in Innovation - I
Why?
What?
Who?
What are the rationales for collaboration? How are
these rationales related to the smart specialisation
agenda?
What are we collaborating on - common problems,
opportunities or learning?
Who are the partners and what are the criteria for
choosing them?
Where? What are the geographical boundaries of
collaboration? Is geographical proximity an important
criteria ? What other types of proximity are
necessary?
How?
What mechanism for collaboration are being used? Do
they align with the aims and objectives?
When?
What is the timescale for the collaboration and the
intensity? Is it a one-off or a continuous engagement?
Does this time scale match the objectives and aims?
How can collaboration be aligned with the phases of
regional specialisation?
Why do regions want to
collaborate?
1. To reach a wider knowledge base and a wider
pool of financial and other resources necessary
for innovation
2. Improve opportunities for entrepreneurial selfdiscovery
3. Get access to complementary assets.
4. Compensate for competence or capability
failures
5. Sharing of costs (and risks)
6. Increase connectivity – avoid lock-in
7. Facilitate policy coordination and policy learning
A Policymakers Guide to
Transnational Learning
•
How to go from dialogue to real change?
•
•
From outsider perspective to self-discovery
What is your challenge and what is your driver
of change?
Points towards what do you need to do in the
different S3 steps
Points toward what characteristics of
transnational learning could be beneficiary
•
•
What can
go wrong…?
Drivers of
change
Exploited in
S3 policy
How to succeed
with right angle
to transnational
learning
What are we collaborating on, common
problems, opportunities, or learning?
• Addressing common problems, like planning,
transport and environmental considerations.
• Exploiting opportunities by bringing together
complementary assets or common priorities.
• Promotion of learning.
Who to collaborate with and where
to find them?
Small
large
Contiguous
territories
Cross-border regions
Macro-regions
Noncontiguous
territories
Interregional
inter-urban
operation
Examples:
Dutch-GermanBelgian Top Technology Region
TTR, the Centrope region at
the intersection of Austria,
Slovakia, Czech Republic and
Hungary, and the DanishSwedish Oresund region
Examples: Danube region, Baltic Sea
region, Adriatic-Agean region, Atlantic
Arc Sea Basin Strategy
and Peak associations
co- Examples: Assembly of
Example: “Four motors of
Europe” network among the
regions
of
Lombardy,
Catalonia,
Rhône-Alpes,
Baden-Wurttemberg.
European
Regions, the Association of European
Border Regions (AEBR) and the
Association of Regions of Traditional
Industry.
Source OECD (2013), Cross border collaboration
How to collaborate
•
Joint research activities
•
Joint provision of research infrastructure
•
Sharing technology transfer infrastructure
•
Provision of joint funds for private R&D
•
Joint provision of innovation support
•
Facilitating access to finance
•
Promotion of cluster and firm networks
•
Demand side innovation policy instruments
•
Framework policies
•
Intelligence gathering exercises
Intensity of collaboration?
•
Involve information sharing only, on e.g. innovation
policy initiatives, research programmes, market
intelligence, etc.
•
Consist of concrete, ad hoc, projects, limited in time.
•
Involve policy coordination, for instance aligning
funding programme conditions and other conditions such
as mobility incentives for researchers
•
Jointly funded programmes or actions addressing
common problems
•
Adopt the form of joint strategies that are commonly
designed, funded and implemented by the partner
regions, and which inform a mix of policies and actions.
Challenges and preconditions for
collaboration depend on
• Proximities:
• Geographical
• Cultural
• Trust
• Levels of innovation development
• National institutional systems
• Engagement from key stakeholders
and political commitment
Thank you!
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu
JRC-IPTS-S3PLATFORM@ec.europa.eu
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