The Role of Clusters and Competence Centres in Smart Specialisation

1. The Role of Clusters and Competence Centres in Smart Specialisation Dr Dimitri CORPAKIS, Head of Unit Regional Dimension of Innovation - C5Directorate for Research and InnovationDIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION EUROPEAN COMMISSION

2. The EU Innovation Emergency

4. The knowledge economy is here with a price • Division of labour at global scale, increased internationalisation and global capital flows, coupled with the disparities of the knowledge economy may drive several European regions to technological obsolescence (failing clusters) • Regions need to reposition themselves at global level • Crucial roles of Clusters and Competence Centres as repositioning factors at regional level, towards Smart Specialisation Strategies

5. Some telling facts about Europe • Network analyses show that knowledge flows inside Europe (i.e. flows of students, electronic academic links, co-publications and co-patenting cooperation) are very unbalanced, with a strong concentration amongst a few Western European countries, marginal involvement of EU-12 Member States and of most Southern European countries. • In 2008, almost 11 % of the total EU budget was devoted to research and innovation, compared to less than 3 % in 1985. This has a considerable impact on the European research community. In most EU-12 Member States, Structural Funds directed to Research, Technological Development and Innovation represent more than 60 % of the national R&D budget, and even more than 100 % in a few cases. This is a unique opportunity for these Member States to increase their research and innovation capacity. As to the EU Research Framework Programme, according to preliminary Europe wide estimates, it represents some 20 % to 25 % of all project-based funding in Europe. • Source: Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011

6. The Heat-map of scientific collaboration in Europe 2005-2009

7. Concordance of regional innovation typologies Source: DG Research and Innovation

8. Regional Clusters / Competence Centres • Clusters play a key role towards Smart Specialisation through a “natural process” of selection / adaptation / competence / skills building • Competence Centres Initiatives have focused on scientific and technological excellence to drive industrial skills through direct business involvement

11. Competence Centres (an example) • The Swedish Competence Centres Programme: • > build bridges between science and industry by creating excellent academic research environments in which industrial companies participate actively in order to derive long-term benefits. • > mission was to strengthen the very crucial links in the Swedish National Innovation System between academic research groups and industrial R&D. • Typically a Competence Centre has two main goals: • • Become a productive, academic Centre of Excellence by actively involving a number of companies and research groups in joint multidisciplinary research • • Promote the introduction and implementation of new technology and strengthen technical competence in Swedish industry, mainly through its industrial partners. • Strong and innovative academic research environments with researchers from different disciplines collaborating with a network of companies. • Research focused on problems that offer new and exciting challenges for scientists , of strategic importance for the companies involved. • Industrial involvement in the centres means that new ideas and knowledge are implemented and used by the companies.

12. Centres of ExpertiseProgramme (Finland) • A fixed-term special programme pooling local, regional and national resources to utilise top expertise • Based on regional strengths and specialization (bottom up), coordinated on national level by multi sectoral committee (top down) • Concentrates on internationally competitive fields and on the development of business activities • Triple helix: Companies, research institutes and public sector • Competitive tendering: state basic funding as catalyst and status Courtesy Antti Valle Head of Division, Innovation Department, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finland 17.11.2004

13. Competence Clusters and the Centres of Expertise (Finland) HealthBio Kuopio, Oulu,Helsinki, Tampere, Turku Nanotechnology Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kokkola, Mikkeli, Oulu, Helsinki, Tampere Living business Joensuu, Hämeenlinna, Lahti, Helsinki Health and Well-being Kuopio, Oulu, Helsinki, Tampere Digital Content Hämeenlinna, Helsinki, Tampere, Kouvola Energy Technology Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Vaasa, Pori ja Tampere Ubiquitous Computing Jyväskylä, Oulu, Pori, Helsinki, Tampere Food Development Kuopio, Helsinki, Seinäjoki, Turku Cleantech Kuopio, Lahti, Oulu, Helsinki Tourism and Experience Management Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Savonlinna, Turku Forest Industry Future Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Kokkola, Mikkeli, Lappeenranta, Turku Intelligent Machines Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Lappeenranta, Seinäjoki, Tampere Maritime Lappeenranta, Pori, Turku, Vaasa, Raahe Courtesy Antti Valle Head of Division, Innovation Department, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finland

14. Thanks for your attention!