Source of the event review is the RIM website: http://www.rim-europa.eu/?q=p.reportDetails&id=15564

Following some introductory words by DG Enterprise and some opening remarks, the first session presented the significant progress that has been made within the last twelve months. Presentations by the project team aimed to raise policy makers' attention to the both the project's website and the different analytical activities performed within its framework. In particular, the new detailed regional reports were presented as an important addition.

In the following, the workshop addressed three main topics which are currently of high interest to regional policy makers. All of these topics have been or will be addressed in specific thematic papers. Hence, they were introduced by a presentation of the project team and afterwards elaborated on and developed in more detail by an invited speaker with practical experience in the field.

Smart Specialisation:

Dr James Wilson from the Basque Institute of Competitiveness gave a comprehensive overview of how the new strategic concept can be related to existing policy approaches and academic findings. Following that, Dr Mikel Landabaso from DG Regio presented the newest developments from the perspective of the European Commission.

The discussion found that numerous starting points, both conceptual and in policy practice, should be taken into account and built upon when the development of new strategies becomes a stipulation for the allocation of European Structural Funding. The smart specialisation approach is not something entirely new but a well-considered shift in emphasis that should allow many regions to further develop their implicitly existing strategic commitments.

Demand-side Oriented Policies:

Benjamin Kuscher from Conplusultra in Austria recounted his experiences with various procurement activities at the regional level as well as the RAPIDE programme, aimed at finding good practice relating to the role of regional public sectors in stimulating innovation.

The discussion found that it remains somewhat unclear what should be addressed under the heading of demand-side oriented policies and that this fuzziness of definition should be addressed before further commitments are made in the field. Nonetheless, it was highlighted that activities based on approaches associable with this heading are undoubtedly important and arguably not sufficiently taken into account in current strategies and allocation schemes.

The Role of Universities in Regional Development:

As the thematic paper on this section is not yet written, the project team took the opportunity to collect information from the audience without inviting an additional speaker.

The discussion found that regional leadership exercised by lighthouse PPP projects of high-profile universities is a topic worthy of consideration. Furthermore, however, there was agreement that the role of regional teaching colleges and low-profile universities deserves greater attention. Even the 'traditional topic' of matchmaking between universities and local SME remains a continuous challenge for many regions and should be analytically addressed.

This second workshop was organised and chaired by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. The final policy workshop of the Regional Innovation Monitor project will be organised in late 2012 by UNU-MERIT.

Reports / presentations for download: