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ERIK ACTION Upgrading the Innovation capacity of Existing Enterprises through INTERREG IVC

ERIK.ACTION aims to improve regional development policies in innovation by upgrading the innovation capacity of existing enterprises. The project focuses on creating additional value for firms through improved innovation support services. This project is of general interest for EU Regional Policy and is aligned with the Lisbon Agenda and INTERREG IVC programme priorities.

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ERIK ACTION Upgrading the Innovation capacity of Existing Enterprises through INTERREG IVC

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  1. ERIK ACTIONUpgrading the Innovation capacity of Existing Enterprises through INTERREG IVC Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  2. Overview ERIK ACTION is the only project involving a Romanian partner from a total of six Capitalisation Projects approved on the first call of INTERREG IVC and also receiving ‘Fast Track’ assistance from the EC. South East Regional Development Agency participates in this project as a partner, the lead partner being the Region of Tuscany. The project started in July 2008 and will last 24 months; the total budget is 1.893.792 Euro and the financial contribution between the partners is well balanced. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  3. ERIK ACTION’s overall objective is to improve the effectiveness of regional development policies in the field of innovation and the knowledge economy and, specifically, in upgrading the innovation capacity of existing enterprises. The project aims to create additional value for firms by improving regional innovation support services and infrastructure. The theme was considered of general interest for the EU Regional Policy and very relevant for the INTERREG IVC programme. The innovation theme and more precisely the innovation capacity of businesses is in line with the Lisbon Agenda and especially with the first priority of the INTERREG IVC programme. The consistency of the project with EU horizontal policies and the tangibility of the results were clearly demonstrated in the Application Form. Overall Objective Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  4. ERIK ACTION builds on a consolidated experience of exchange by moving towards concrete transfer of identified good practices (already available in the ERIK database) into mainstream Structural Funds programmes in regions wishing to improve policies. ERIK ACTION kicked off on the 7th – 9th of July 2008 in Brussels. The first project meeting saw the participation of all partners, representatives from the INTERRGE IVC Joint Technical Secretariat and the Commission services involved in Fast Track activities. The meeting served to discuss the project work plan and the role of each partner in the project. Furthermore, the first of 5 project training sessions was held during the kick off meeting and concentrated on Innovation Strategies. Specific sessions were dedicated to the transfer of good practices, the partners being able to gain more detailed information on the good practices in order to make an informed decision on transfer. Background Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  5. Background Following the kick off meeting, each partner developed an individual stakeholder involvement plan. For each good practice to be imported (transferred into the region) and exported (transferred out of theregion),partners identified the political and technical stakeholders and provided information on each ones’ priorities and interests of stakeholder in relation to the selected GP and the activities proposed to involve them in the ERIK ACTION project. The following 5 project meetings included in depth transfer workshops, study visits and staff exchanges, the regional stakeholders being actively involved in the international transfer process. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  6. FOCUS ON: The Transfer Process Five training sessions were to be organised during the ERIK ACTION project. These sessions were designed as participative events which provide the opportunity for expert input on a given theme, and in depth discussion among participants.The first 4 training sessions have already taken place and presentations are available hereThe training sessions concentrated on the following themes:Innovation strategy (8th July 2008, Brussels) Innovation finance (20th October 2008, Kozani, Western Macedonia) Innovation friendly environments (21st October 2008, Kozani, Western Macedonia) Human resources (5th May 2009, Lower Austria) The last training session will concentrate on “Knowledge management” and will take place in January 2010, during the study visit in Sevilla, Andalusia. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  7. FOCUS ON: The Transfer Process Four study visits were organised until now and the last one will take place in January 2010. These visits allow partners to see the practical implementation of the Good Practice in its original context.The visit schedule was as follows: • Flanders - Parenthood Projects - February 2009 • Tuscany - PRAI VINCI / Fabrica Ethica - March 2009 • Lower Austria - Innovation Assistant - TIP Coaching - May 2009 • Småland med öarna - Sideum - September 2009 • Andalusia - Campus / HeliceNet - January 2010 Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  8. FOCUS ON: The Transfer Process Methodology Within ERIK ACTION, a detailed methodology has been developed to facilitate the transfer of good practices from one region to another. The first step of the methodology concerned the selection of good practices. It began with inter-regional exchange within ERIK Network and the ERIK Database http://www.eriknetwork.net/database.html), following which each partner decided on the regional good practices to be offered for transfer. 16 good practices were selected for transfer. For each good practice a transfer group was formed with a group coordinator and a transfer help-desk. During the Kick-Off meeting a Transfer Matching Session allowed partners to hear detailed presentations and to request more details in order to aid on decision on which initiatives were best suited to their region. Partners were supported in their decision through a series of training sessions on key innovation factors in enterprises. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  9. FOCUS ON: The Transfer ProcessMethodology The second step of the methodology was the development of transfer actions. In this phase partners were working in close contact in order to prepare the groundwork for transfer. This process was facilitated by transfer workshops for selected good practices, study visits, help desks and staff exchanges. Following this development phase, each partner is developing an individual regional action plan for transfer( the third step). The action plans include all the necessary actions, key stakeholders and budget and will be ratified by the managing authority of the Regional Operational Programme and relevant regional stakeholders. Partners have also foreseen a potential fourth phase of the methodology; that of concrete good practice transfer and tool implementation or improvement. This is not an official part of ERIK ACTION, in fact it goes further than what is requested from Capitalisation project. However, it would be welcome as additional step forward for those regions who can already commit to certain transfer activities. These actions would be paid for by the Regional Operational Programmes and not directly by INTERREG IVC. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  10. FOCUS ON: The Transfer Process After 17 months of project activities, all partners find themselves in the third stage of the methodology, only one study visit remaining to be done in January 2010. Having each identified before 1 and 5 good practices of interest, partners are now working in close contact within their transfer groups in order to collect all the necessary information and to relate it to their specific regional context. Partners are analysing aspects of the good practices which could easily be transferred, they are contacting and involving the necessary stakeholders and are identifying and troubleshooting any potential obstacles to transfer. In depth transfer workshops were held at regular intervals. Between meetings, partners can receive information from the transfer help desks set up for each good practice. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  11. FOCUS ON: The Transfer Process ERIK Action project team within South East Regional Development Agency selected, after consultation with the regional stakeholders, two good practices to be transferred in the south-east region of Romania: • SIDEUM • TECHNOLOGY EVENTS Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  12. Reasons for Choosing SIDEUM • Short description of SIDEUM, highlighting aspects of particular interest • Sideum Innovation, set up in 2006, is the tool for the development of clusters and innovative systems in coordination with the business sector, society and institutes of higher education. • Sideum Innovation is a non-profit company in which local municipalities, the region, Växjö University and the business sector (IKEA, Volvo) are active stakeholders.Sideum Innovation is responsible for coordination of innovation systems and clusters in strategical important areas such as aluminium use, heavy vehicles, ICT, wooden constructions and bioenergy technology. • SE RDA is interested in transferring the TRIPLE HELIX APPROACH promoted by SIDEUM. • As far as this issue is concerned, SE Region of Romania has designed a Regional Innovation Strategy where one of the priority axes refers to: • Public administration and public services as strategic drivers in the triple helix for innovation (enterprises – R&D - public administration) • Two key innovative features of SIDEUM good practice challenged SE RDA and made a good reason in selecting this GP: • thestakeholders are linked to a common structure by jointly owning a company; • a regional partnershipset up by active involvementof business environment, academia and public authority (triple helix) Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  13. ADAPTATION OF THE GP • Aspects of interest in SIDEUM and where they can be integrated in the regional framework In Småland and Island there are a great number of actors involved in the interaction between industry and science to promote industrial development. Based on the awareness that the region lacked focus in R&D related business development structuresa consortium was formed with industrial, public and academic partners. SIDEUM project identified political and public institutions as key players. They were involved during the whole process. SIDEUM created a common platform for frontline development processes between academia, the public arena and the business sector. SIDEUM project was selected due to its innovative approach in finding new ways for the region in organising its efforts in building a modern structure to deal with regional development issues in the form of clusters and innovations systems. The key innovative element of the new configuration is that the stakeholders are “chained” to a common structure by jointly owning a company. Sustainability was built in from the start, however a lesson learnt from SIDEUM project was that national actors should have been involved in a more comprehensive way The management structure and the project marketing are also important factors in increasing sustainability Local Council, university, county council and county administration are responsible for the basic funding of SIDEUM. They provide SIDEUM with the economic stability needed to operate as a non-profit organisation. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009 The public authorities have a “tool” which they can use in promoting economic growth.

  14. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  15. Reasons for Choosing Technology Events and adaptation of the Good Practice • In Andalucia there are a great number of firms interested to solve industrial problems and find competitive solutionsthrough research and innovations. • IDEA promotes and strengthens industry-science relations, in order to achieve better use by the industrial sector of large public investments in R&D • There is a great collaboration between public agencies in order to organize workshops focusing on Technology Transfer strategic sector • Technology Events promote innovation through technology cooperation and exploitation of research results • Technology Events encourage and facilitate collaboration and relationship between research groups and companies of Andalusia • The events are organised to give the possibility to the research groups and also to the companies, to meet each other with the higher numbers of meetings during a day • An unique database with companies and research groups was created, in order to classify them by different fields and by their technological offer or demand Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  16. Proposed structure for Regional Action Plan: Official Declaration Focus on Regional Action Plan Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009 16

  17. Focus on Regional Action Plan The main result of the project is a concrete action plan for each partner region, containing detailed information on ROP and other programmes overview and the good practices ( at least one) to be transferred: • Reasons for Choosing the Good Practice: short description, highlighting aspects of particular interest, short description of regional characteristics, initiatives, political will, regional policies • Current Status of Transfer( this section is continuously updated): • description of transfer activities undertaken so far - initial exchange with providing region, decision making process in own region, transfer workshops, staff exchanges, study visits, help desks; • any obstacles / problems met and adopted solutions, lessons learned. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  18. Focus on Regional Action Plan • Implementation • Adaptation of the Good Practice: aspects of interest in good practices and where they can be integrated in the regional framework; action and adaptation required for integration into the regional framework. • Transfer team (including Stakeholder Involvement plan, as integral part of RAP): political involvement (regional and/or national administration, Managing authority of ROP) and territorial involvement (service providers and others involved in the practical transfer of the good practice); • Implementation Schedule of transfer actions, mainstreaming within the current ROP period. A Gantt-Diagram with single steps/activities/milestones is included. • Budget allocation and resources • Expected impact: expected results from transfer actions (quantifiable and measurable impact of Good Practice implementation on statistics of the region, qualitative impact) like: no. of new jobs, increase of firms’ turnover, increased firms’ R&D / innovation activities, further thematic indicators from the ERIK database. • Monitoring actions proposed for measuring impact: innovativeness, economic success, indications of equal opportunities and environmental impact. Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  19. Conclusions Why ERIK Action is successful: Based on a real need (theme) and desire to capitalise Preparation (early and partner contribution) Full understanding of programme / capitalisation projects Careful choice of partners Critical points on which ERIK Action focused on during the implementation: Mobilising stakeholders at regional level Mobilising funds at regional level Involvement of other regions (outside of partnership) and collaboration with other capitalisation projects Overcome the initial difficulties in understanding the means of completing the action plan according to the proposed template Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  20. For further information: www.eriknetwork.net/erikaction erikaction@eriknetwork.net Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009

  21. Thank you for your attention! Adriana VAIDAHead of Foreign Relations/International Projects DepartmentSouth-East Regional Development Agency+40 339 401 018adriana.vaida@adrse.ro Info Day - Bucharest, Romania 3rd of December 2009 21

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