RUnUP Creating appropriate conditions for stimulating knowledge-based activities

1. RUnUPCreating appropriate conditions for stimulating knowledge-based activities Pedro Alves 12 May 2011

2. Introduction • The Municipality of Águeda is located in the Centre Region of Portugal, 256km from Lisbon. • Total area: 335 km2 • Inhabitants (2001): 50.000 • The School of Tecnhology and Management of Águeda (ESTGA), which is part of the University of Aveiro, is located in the Municipality. • Activity rate (2011): 50% Águeda Lisbon

3. Introduction • Águeda is one of the most industrial Portuguese NUT IV, being the secondary sector the main sector of activity. • The active population works mainly in the manufacturing industry (56 %). • The manufactoring industry operates mainly in the following areas: • Metalurgy; • Metalic furniture; • Ceramics; • Mobility(manufacture of motorcycles and bicycles, parts and components for automobiles); • Electrical equipment. • 92% of the existing businesses have less than 10 workers.

4. Why does Águeda need to create conditions for stimulating knowledge-based activities? • Significant increase in the unemployment rate between 2001 (3,5%) and now (nearly 8%) . • Inexistence of skilled workers (particularly in the secondary sector) in Águeda, with qualified staff coming from outside this NUT IV. • Decrease in local entrepreneurship. • Most businesses work in outsourcing, having a limited importance in the value chain and insufficient advanced factors of competitiveness. • Lack of attractiveness of the city, resulting in the inability to retain population.

5. First Steps... • Due to the previously identified problems, three main strategic objectives have been set in 2006: • Reinforce entrepreneurship; • Stimulate innovation; • Urban Regeneration of the city of Águeda. • The First Action • In 2008, RIC Águeda – Network for Innovation and Competitiveness in Águeda was created, aiming at developing the conditions needed for businesses to increase their level of competitiveness through innovation. • This network had the following partners: the Municipal Authority of Águeda, the University of Aveiro and ESTGA, and several local associations, such as ABIMOTA and AEA. This has been the first real triple helix experience in Águeda.

6. First Steps... • The success of RIC Águeda has been significant, with some parallel projects coming out of the network. • One of these projects was the Lighting Living Lab (2009), which aims at promoting innovation and research development of new technologies in lighting, focusing on the concepts of intelligent and eco-friendly lighting, to create new services / systems / products and business opportunities. • Its success is clear, and 4 of the top 5 lighting Portuguese companies are now cooperating rather than competing, both in national and international markets.

7. First Steps... • In 2008, the Urban Regeneration Programme of the city of Águeda has also started. • This programme involves 10 partners (the Municipal Authority, the University of Aveiro, industrial associations and private institutions of social solidarity). • It has a global cost of 10 million Euros. • The programme has 10 projects, including the Arts Centre and the Cultural Incubator. The latter combines urban regeneration with entrepreneurship. • The aim of the Urban Regeneration Programme is to qualify and integrate the different areas of the city, strengthening human, institutional, cultural and economic capital, with the purpose of retaining population and qualified staff.

8. Second Steps... • Since 2009, new projects have been launched, aiming at the reinforcement of entrepreneurship and innovation. Amongst these are: • New Business Park, linked to the Science and Technology Park of the University of Aveiro; • Business Incubator; • Financial Support Programmes to young entrepreneurs. • At this stage, the Municipal Authority felt the need to enlarge its frontiers and become involved in projects at a regional level (e.g. RUCI - Urban Networks for Competitiveness and Innovation), and at an international level (e.g. RUnUP – Role of Universities in Urban Poles).

9. RUCI • RUCI aims to build, consolidate and foster the collective dynamics of the urban development of the network of cities and major population centres of the region of Aveiro. • It promotes a model of innovation focused on new areas of emerging demand - sustainable economy, creative economy and health care and well-being -, aiming at promoting entrepreneurship and a well-informed community. • It consists of four main areas: • New Agenda for Culture – Focused on promoting creativity; • New Agenda for Health and Well-being – Focused on demographic challenges; • New Agenda for Sustainability – Focused on the challenges of climate change (led by Águeda) • Promoting Entrepreneurship – Aims at developing and consolidating the entrepreneurial capability and the ability to innovate. • The Programme has an estimated cost of around 9 million Euros and involves 20 entities – it will start in 2011.

10. RUnUP • RUnUP has taken Águeda towards the next level, in terms of understanding the logic of the triple helix and the creation of networks for innovation, particularly through the observation of successful experience of project partners in the creation of knowledge-based activities. • For Águeda, the major challenge throughout the project consisted in finding solutions to the problem of the unemployment of young skilled workers and in creating a new generation of entrepreneurs in emerging areas. • The Local Action Plan (LAP), developed under the RUnUP project, defines a set of actions that are considered essential to achieve the targets and the strategy set for Águeda by 2020: to be a Municipality at the service of innovation and entrepreneurship.

11. RUnUP – Local Action Plan

12. Conclusion • Creating conditions for stimulating knowledge-based activities is something that becomes easier if there are networks supporting it, preferably operating in a triple helix logic, or even involving a fourth helix (the final user), as it happens in the LLL Project. • Cooperation networks foster the development of new activities, reducing the competitiveness between businesses operating in the same sector. • Quite often, financial constraints are not the greater barriers to the development of policies that promote the creation of new knowledge-based activities. As it can be seen in the LAP, sometimes, with relatively low costs, it is possible to achieve great goals. This can only be done with the commitment of all partners and the establishment of informal relationships, that help the development of new projects.

13. Conclusion • It is also important to be aware of the fact that each city is not alone in their territory and that the regional, national and international links are increasingly fundamental to achieve socio-economic sustainability and to create territorial networks. This is the case of RUCI. • Finally, it is important to notice that the creation of knowledge-based activities implies the retention of human resources with the needed know-how. This is only possible by combining good jobs with attractive social, cultural and economicactivities. This is why it is so important to have a competitive and strong labor market and a high quality urban space in the cities.