www.proinno-europe.eu
Year 2 - issue 4 - February 2011
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IN THIS ISSUE: Interview with Stefaan De Clerck, Former mayor of Kortrijk and President of Designregio Kortrijk Page 2 | STORY IN FOCUS Innovation Festival Kortrijk Page 3 | STORY IN FOCUS Milan Innovation Festival Innovation Festival Lisbon Page 4 | STORY IN FOCUS European Creative Industries Alliance: creativity matters European Design Innovation Initiative: designing innovation Page 5 | NEW OUTLOOK Fourth PRO INNO Europe® Partnering Event Page 6-7 | NETWORK NEWS Page 8 | NEWS AND EVENTS
Interview with Stefaan De Clerck Former mayor of Kortrijk and President of Designregio Kortrijk ON THE VIRTUES OF IF… AND DESIGN AND CREATIVITY FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIES
HOW HAS KORTRIJK DEVELOPED INTO A HUB OF DESIGN AND CREATIVITY AND HOW DOES INNOVATION FESTIVAL KORTRIJK FIT INTO THE OVERALL STRATEGY REGARDING “DESIGN REGION KORTRIJK”? The industrial and economic foundations of the City of Kortrijk and the surrounding region have gone through a remarkable process of renewals and creative turns. After the flax industry laid the basis for wealth in the 19th century, the early 20th century witnessed the rise of the carpet industry and laminate production. Since then, the economic fabric in the region has become increasingly dedicated to more upstream industrial activities, by moving into (interior) design activities and productive activities that require high-tech solutions, to stay ahead of global competition. To provide exposure to the strengths of the region in design, in 1968 the first Design Bienniale Interieur was organised in Kortrijk. Today it has become a top event in the world of interior, product and service design. To give further momentum to the design movement in and around Kortrijk, the City and other regional stakeholders in design created the “Design Region Kortrijk” in 2005. This also generated a strong push for the successful participation of Kortrijk and Kortrijk-based designers in several consecutive Design Management Europe Award contests and the European Innovation Festival project together with other big European design cities. Through these achievements, the international exposure and momentum of Kortrijk as a design hotspot has been leveraged further. At the same time, it fosters the local design atmosphere and turns design into something natural; something that is in the air that people breathe in Kortrijk. WHAT KIND OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS DO FESTIVALS LIKE IF... KORTRIJK GENERATE? Events like Innovation Festival Kortrijk provide excellent opportunities to involve citizens and education centres in design issues. For this purpose, a campaign to promote the IF... Kortrijk event was launched in June 2010 during the "Week of Design". This is a display at the end of the academic year where students show the results of their work. To get the wider population interested in design and the Innovation Festival Kortrijk, citizens were invited in spring 2010 to introduce design ideas for which students could develop a prototype in the IF... lab. The completed prototypes were then exhibited to the visitors of the Innovation Festival. A further activity to get design into the mindset of the public was the organisation of a big street marketing campaign with plenty of IF... posters and banners in the city centre. Consequently, during the month of October 2010 IF... had very high visibility everywhere in Kortrijk and it coincided perfectly with the Design Biennale Interieur. IF... has helped to put Kortrijk more strongly on the map of design hotspots in Europe. In combination with the design-supportive physical environment and infrastructure, IF... helps the City to attract young creative talent to come to Kortrijk to set up design businesses and/or to cooperate with local businesses to design contemporary and sustainable products and services. >> Stefaan De Clerck Former mayor of Kortrijk and President of Designregio Kortrijk
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This also helps reduce the drain of creative and innovative brains from Kortrijk and it brings in new talent, making Kortrijk’s foothold in the world of design stronger. WHAT RESULTS CAN BE HIGHLIGHTED IN TERMS OF IF... KORTRIJK’S THEME OF SUSTAINABILITY? Sustainability is not only a matter of caring for the environment but also of promoting good cooperation between public and private parties to bring about regional development. In that sense, IF... provided a very good platform for strengthening the ties between business and institutional actors and helped to strengthen the basis for joint regional initiatives. Beyond Flanders, the Festival was also supported by the Eurométropole Lille-Kortrijk-Courtrai. The Eurométropole fosters Kortrijk’s opportunities to learn from, and exchange experiences with neighbouring regions. Within this context, IF... acted as a catalyst for further inter-regional collaboration on design and creativity. In further terms of relationship sustainability, IF... helped to build more solid and broad foundations under the design scene in Kortrijk, by focusing on the artistic dimension of design, by bringing in the business world, by linking up public and private partners, and by starting up a dialogue with the general public on new approaches and possibilities in the area of interior design. Consequently, it had a very beneficial structuring and networking effect among actors from the region. The dynamics that this strengthening of the regional design fabric brings about also forms an engine for employment and prosperity throughout the region. To further sensitise the public to design, IF... also highlighted the benefits for innovation and design of widening consumer input and contributions at the early stages of product development. WHAT IS FOR YOU THE ESSENCE OF INNOVATION AND WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A CITY OR REGION TO FOSTER THIS? The forging of effective relationships between business and institutional stakeholders in innovation is an important mission for the City of Kortrijk in order to come to joint actions in the region. The organisation of "exhibitions” and events like IF... form part of this as they help to mobilise actors and create critical mass and momentum. A city can help to spark enthusiasm for design by undertaking coherent and sustained design actions in the architectural articulation of its urban landscape, public spaces and in its business districts. In fact, the development of a regional strategy for design must have a clear and visual side to it. Only through tangible and visible outputs (new buildings, bridges, events, etc.), does a design strategy and identity become real. In the case of Kortrijk, the ambition is to create a biotope of excellence for design. To achieve that, the City has committed itself, in particular, to developing advanced design education to provide the minds and human resources that can underpin sustainable economic growth in creative industries.
Innovation Festival Kortrijk KORTRIJK AND ITS REGION GIVE A BOOST TO DESIGN, CREATION AND INNOVATION The Innovation Festival 2010 represented an opportunity for the City of Kortrijk to further promote and stimulate its regional excellence in design and innovation, to create a stronger regional innovation identity and to bring relevant stakeholders in design, creativity and innovation together in order to strengthen cooperation. The Innovation Festival also forms a stepping-stone on the region’s path to strengthen and anchor its role as a hub for smart, sustainable and inclusive design and creativity in Europe. Proof of its design status is, inter alia, backed up by the fact that Kortrijk grew to become a meeting point for the international design world through the Design Biennale Interieur for innovative and creative living (since 1968), which is a summit for international icons from the design field, and the fact that Kortrijk-based designers have made up an impressive number of candidates and winners of the DME Awards in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. During the Innovation Festival, the Kortrijk region quenched its thirst for design, creativity and innovation. It resulted in a people’s festival with an international flavour. As part of the Innovation Festival, people from all over Flanders were invited to send in their ideas and dreams for a project or product they would like to see realised. Out of some 150 proposals, 50 were selected as a challenge for design students to conceptualise and produce over a two-week period. During the Innovation Festival, visitors were able to observe how students worked on prototypes, which were subsequently exhibited and finally subjected to a vote to select 3 prototypes to participate in the European “What IF... competition” in Tallinn in 2011. With “Yes, we’re open!” as the slogan of the Festival to “open design for sustainable innovations”, a key feature was the exhibition on “Open Design”. This exhibition acted as a creative hub where inhabitants, visitors and industry representatives would meet and learn more about design as a creative (thought) process, which is not only aimed at “forms and shapes”. Reinhard Büscher, Head of the Industrial Innovation Support Unit in DG Enterprise and Industry, expressed his admiration for the industry policy approach taken by the City of Kortrijk. “It is quite impressive to see how committed this region is to cultivate its own strengths in order to offer young people a bright future perspective for staying in their own region”, he said. “A region can be small but still highly innovative, provided it is also smart, open-minded and well connected to the world.” More information at: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/innovation-festival
STORY IN FOCUS
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Innovation Festival Milan EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY The overarching goal of the 2010 Innovation Festival Milan, which took place from 6 to 11 October 2010, was to promote the idea that innovation is both a matter of promoting technology, fostering an innovation culture and putting in place effective links between stakeholders in innovation, i.e. between businesses, universities and institutions. To that end, IF... Milan gave many companies and researchers the possibility to present their technology to experts and the general public. As a result, important new business collaborations were established, in particular for a company operating in the field of augmented reality and for an endoscopic technologies manufacturer. In addition, the Innovation Festival Milan actively reached out to citizens, especially to young people, in exercises to imagine innovations with relevance for the future. Also, it aimed to strengthen the bond between innovation and creativity. This was done through a “call for ideas” in which different organisations and individuals submitted ideas for a number of events and initiatives to be organised during the Festival. In line with creativity and user-responsiveness, the Festival was based less around traditional conferences for specialists and much more around events addressing the general public. Researchers and companies presented various innovative ideas, products and prototypes and exposed them to review by the public to foster user-driven innovations. Similarly, the Festival provided many opportunities to show innovation by means of gripping events and artistic performances, music and films. The 2010 Innovation Festival Milan also launched a contest for amateur and professional photographers to come up with pictures giving impressions of a changing society, ‘Innovation Changing Everyday Life’ and ‘Milan as the Great Innovation Capital’. The best photographs, selected by a professional jury, were then exhibited in the city centre. During the Festival, participants were able to learn about, and experiment with innovation and new frontiers of technology through a cross-disciplinary cultural journey along four thematic trails: Environmental Sustainability; Healthy Eating; Information & Communication Technology; Art, Fashion and Design. The medieval “Loggia dei Mercanti” in the city centre was fitted out to create an ‘open square of innovation’ with a special multimedia platform which enabled people to view the technological innovations of 2010 at a glance. Overall, IF... Milan attracted over 20,000 visitors, marking a 10% increase compared to the 2009 Milan Innovation Week. “IF... Milan 2010 showed the fundamental importance of strengthening the link between Creativity and Innovation, as PRO strategy INNO EUROPEfor the valorisation of talents and a winning competences in the region” Piergiorgio Monaci, Project Manager IF... Milan, Alintec.
INNO ACTIONS cluster-excellence.eu
More information at: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/innovation-festival
IF...
Lisbon. Almada BUILDING BRIDGES OF CREATIVITY AND INCLUSION BETWEEN LISBON AND ALMADA The Innovation Festival Lisbon.Almada set a goal of enhancing diversity, mobility and inclusion through design and innovation. The Festival also aimed to strengthen connections between Almada and Lisbon and their citizens, scholars, associations, universities, schools, and companies. Almada is a satellite city of Lisbon - every day thousands of people circulate between the two cities, constructing important bridges, binding different cultures, ages and activities between the two localities. The Festival strengthened the human and creative dimension of this relationship and brought out the most expressive dimensions of each of the cities. IF... Lisbon.Almada was a celebration of innovation and creativity. Through many different events, exhibitions and workshops, excellence in innovation and creativity was showcased and a favourable climate was created for tackling societal issues like mobility problems in urban environments. A particular achievement of IF... Lisbon.Almada was its outreach to a wide cross-section of citizens. For instance, creative design handbags were manufactured by the inmates of the Tires Prison with a view to their future reintegration into active life. Similarly, inclusion projects were initiated for people with Down’s syndrome, disabled persons and the elderly to give them an opportunity to express their interest in, and awareness of innovation and creativity. Ultimately, this should lead to a more inclusive world with more (e)quality and accessibility for all. Young people were challenged to become more susceptible to innovation by questioning all kinds of seemingly self-evident issues: “what IF…?”. In addition, IF... Lisbon.Almada gave way to developing an artistic “bridge” between the two cities, reusing materials, objects, collages, drawings and paintings for this purpose. The result symbolised the unity between citizens on either side of the river Tagus. More information at: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/innovation-festival
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STORY IN FOCUS
European Creative Industries Alliance CREATIVITY MATTERS Creative industries have had an impressive impact on the economy in terms of growth and employment in recent years. According to the European Competitiveness Report 20101, overall employment in the creative industries increased by an average of 3.5% a year in 2000-2007; compared to 1.0% a year for the EU economy as a whole. The potential and the challenges faced by the creative industries are increasingly recognised by the European Commission. With the European Commission's Green Paper 'Unlocking the potential of creative and cultural industries'2 of April 2010 it opened a European-wide consultation of how to better address the challenges of the sector, and in its Innovation Union Communication of October 2010 the important role of creativity for innovation was fully recognised. With the launch of the European Creative Industries Alliance (ECIA) the European Commission shows its active support for the creative industries and their role in the European economy. The main goals of the ECIA are: • to support innovative creative industries in Europe and facilitate their internationalisation; • to “energise” traditional industries and add value to manufacturing by injecting more creativity. The ambition of the European Commission is to mobilise at least 100 million euro – of which 7.5 million euro will be contributed by the European Commission – to achieve these goals. The European Commission is currently looking for committed public authorities and public-private partnerships to contribute to "the Policy Learning Platform” of the Alliance and to the concrete actions on vouchers for innovation support, access to finance and cluster excellence and cooperation via an open call for proposals. For more information on the call and the European Creative Industries Alliance in general, visit: http://www.europe-innova.eu/creative-industries 1 2
http://www.europe-innova.eu/web/guest/studies-and-reports http://ec.europa.eu/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?pg=keydocs
European design Innovation
Initiative DESIGNING INNOVATION
In line with the commitment made in the Innovation Union Communication, the European Commission will launch in 2011 the European Design Innovation Initiative to exploit the full potential of design for innovation and to reinforce the link between design, innovation and competitiveness. The goal of the Initiative is to: • raise awareness of design as a driver of innovation in Europe; • enhance its role as a key discipline to bring ideas to
market, transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products, processes or services by enterprises and public services in the EU. To steer the initiative, a European Design Leadership Board will be set up. To ensure this crucial link between design and innovation, the Board will be composed of members with diverse backgrounds (i.e. business sector, higher education, designers and national or regional agencies promoting design and innovation). The Board, together with the Secretariat of the European Design Innovation Initiative and the European Commission, will develop a joint vision, priorities and actions to better integrate design into innovation policy. More information on the development of this Initiative can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/desig n-creativity/index_en.htm
NEW OUTLOOK
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Fourth PRO INNO
Europe®
Partnering Event 5-7 APRIL 2011, MUNICH
The 4th PRO INNO Europe® Partnering Event will be hosted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, Germany on 5 to 7 April 20111. The event takes “knowledge transfer” in all its facets as its lead theme. The objective is to identify existing and upcoming challenges for technology transfer, knowledge transfer and access to creativity in order to identify better support practices. The European Patent Office not only protects inventions but also provides vast quantities of technical information in support of the innovative activities of companies. It is therefore very well positioned to contribute to more effective approaches to knowledge and technology transfer to businesses. On the subject of “enhancing knowledge transfer” we interviewed Mr Jeremy Philpott, the Manager of the Innovation Support Unit at the European Patent Academy of the EPO. WHAT ROLE DOES THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE PLAY IN KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER? The patent system is the oldest and most-used knowledge transfer tool around. The internet database of the EPO, Espacenet®, has over 70 million documents, free to access. Many of the patents or applications in the database are free for anyone to use, because they have lapsed, expired, or were never granted in the relevant territory. This is a goldmine of technical solutions – and most of them are in the public domain. I can think of no other comparable repository of knowledge specifically set up to facilitate communication of scientific and engineering data across the world. WHAT EXPERIENCE DOES THE EPO HAVE WITH PRO INNO EUROPE®? The EPO was the consortium co-ordinator for the 2007-2008 INNO-Action ip4inno2. This project produced
36 hours of IP strategy teaching material to be used by business advisors and technology transfer officers. The partners ran over 60 training events and reached more than 800 trainees, some of whom went on to train a further 500 people. The project was itself a knowledge transfer exercise, as the partners shared their expertise on routes to successful IP commercialisation via the training material they designed and disseminated. It has been showcased as a PRO INNO Europe® “Best Practice”3, and the EPO is now leading a follow-up project to expand the teaching material and to adapt it to e-learning formats and encourage translations across the Member States. This will further increase the transfer of knowledge on successful IP management. In addition, the EPO is active in other European projects, and takes a strong interest in Eur-Asian relationships regarding IPR, for example the IPR2 EU-China Project4. Other projects in the EPO relate to machine translation, thereby reducing the language barriers which threaten global knowledge transfer. WHY HAS EPO OFFERED TO HOST THE PRO INNO EUROPE® PARTNERING EVENT? Given the importance of the EPO with regard to knowledge transfer, it makes perfect sense for us to host this important gathering of innovation actors from across Europe. We want to know what most concerns policy makers and project leaders about IP and knowledge transfer, and also to provide EPO services, tools and policies that can help. Patents are just one knowledge transfer tool, but we are open to learn more about alternatives and to explore synergies. Whilst the EPO has a focus on technical information, we also have a lot to offer from our experience and networks which we would happily share with the many partners in PRO INNO Europe®.
http://www.proinno-europe.eu/proinno-partnering-event/ http://www.ip4inno.eu 3 http://www.proinno-europe.eu/category/auto-created-voca bulary/intellectual-property 4 http://www.ipr2.org 1 2
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NETWORK NEWS
Towards strategic policy making in Europe on cluster development 2010 provided several opportunities for policy makers to discuss the future direction of cluster policies in Europe. A significant landmark in this regard was the first European Cluster Conference, where more than 450 people, including a number of national Ministers, debated the recommendations of the European Cluster Policy Group (ECPG) presided by Tea Petrin. One of the main recommendations of the ECPG concerns the need for greater coordination between the different EU initiatives in support of clusters. The ECPG acknowledged the efforts being made for greater coordination on cluster issues between DGs, but stated that more needs to be done if European clusters are to be competitive at a global level. Tea Petrin indicated that “new working methods, such as joint cluster calls between DGs, should rapidly form part of the new cluster policy support framework to support the creation of more world-class clusters”. Vice-President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani, underlined the important role that clusters can play in boosting industrial innovation and growth and in responding to real societal challenges. He also welcomed current and upcoming policy initiatives that encourage inter-cluster collaboration. Other reflections of the conference included the need to pursue greater sectoral transversality. Professor Rodolfo Zich from Torino Wireless stated that learn “Innovation Express” is “We aneed tocluster how to get the funding most out mechanism of the “chemistry” of the cooperation launched intersection between domains and technologies”. In his under thecanPRO Europe® initiative as view, clusters act asINNO a catalyst for change, notably by integrating technologies as photonics part of cutting-edge the INNET projectsuch(during the and ICT into traditional industries. 2006-2009 period). It is dedicated to
facilitating transnational RDI inter-cluster cooperation for SMEs based on a joint call based on either national and or regional funding. To date, two pilot project calls have been initiated generating over 70 proposals with 120 individual cluster participants and 500 SMEs with the aim of supporting direct transnational inter-cluster and technological cooperation.
Another important cluster event was the European Cluster Alliance (ECA) Conference. At this event, Nikos Pantalos and Christophe Guichard of DG Enterprise and Industry presented two future EU cluster support initiatives aimed at developing cluster management excellence, through training of cluster managers and encouraging cluster cooperation in the field of internationalisation. In Pantalos’ view, “clusters must become more active at global level, while they must also resist the temptation to go-it-alone. They must learn to cooperate and develop common internationalisation strategies and share resources and experiences to this end.” The ECA Conference also discussed financial mechanisms in support of clusters to enhance their functioning and the competitiveness of their members. Here, Pascal Rogard from the French Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, stated that “clusters have an important role to play in channeling research and innovation finance, but need dedicated financial support mechanisms to exploit their potential in this field. Therefore, it could be worthwhile to revisit state aid rules to improve their services in this regard, notably towards SMEs.” During 2011, cluster policy actors will have further opportunities to work together through the ECA workshop programme. They will also be able to participate in policy development initiatives and in pilot actions launched through the Innovation Express calls, which seek to encourage international collaboration between clusters and SMEs. The ECA will publish a handbook on how clusters can better develop internationalisation strategies in spring and, later in the year, a handbook on cluster marketing and branding strategies will be published.
NETWORK NEWS
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INNO-Grips: A PLATFORM FOR DEBATE ON INNOVATION POLICY, DRIVERS AND BARRIERS Two lively debates on innovation were held in Brussels and Cologne at the end of September 2010 addressing "Barriers to internationalisation and growth of the EU's innovative companies" and “Using innovation policy as an antidote to overcome situations of economic crisis”. PRO INNO EUROPE
INNO GRIPS
INNO-Partnering Council Meeting Delft, Netherlands 2010, November 17-18th
INNO-PARTNERING FORUM: SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION-ENHANCING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PRACTICES The latest INNO-Partnering Council meeting in Delft (NL) focused on the uptake of pre-commercial procurement through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) schemes at national and EU level. The Technology Strategy Board (UK) and Agentschap.NL (NL) have been running national SBIR schemes for a number of years. Based on their experiences, the INNO-Partnering Forum is: • reviewing these two SBIR schemes in order to develop similar national schemes in other European countries. For this, the INNO-Partnering Forum will make proposals for the establishment of European SBIR initiatives and create opportunities for individual countries to collaborate with others in order to develop national SBIR schemes; • designing a proposal for the establishment of an EU SBIR. This proposal will be delivered as input to the ongoing discussions at the European Commission on an EU SBIR; Overall, the SBIR proposals should provide means to promote pre-commercial procurement at national and EU levels. A cross-cutting conclusion drawn at the INNO-Partnering Council meeting was that any SBIR initiative needs to be put into context. Connections and synergies with other instruments, e.g. growth capital schemes, need to be explored and exploited. Furthermore, it was argued that innovation agencies implementing schemes around innovation procurement need to take on the role of a broker, and become a networking node and catalyst for innovation at a broader, more continuous level. It was also concluded that the UK and Dutch SBIR initiatives examined so far are a good match with demand-side policies and schemes, and would work well to address the “grand challenges” faced by many Member States. The discussions also highlighted the existence of underexploited opportunities in the area of innovation procurement in services, in particular in traditional manufacturing industries. This is an area that the INNO-Partnering Forum could look further into. More information at: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/partnering-forum
The main point of reference for the internationalisation workshop was a study prepared under the leadership of WIFO1. At the Brussels workshop, a group of experts discussed and validated this report. Among other issues, the following outcomes resulted from the debate: internationalisation and innovation are closely related and barriers to innovation often also form barriers to internationalisation. According to the workshop participants, this implies that policies supporting innovation and internationalisation should be interlinked or be designed in such a way that they stimulate innovation and internationalisation simultaneously. The discussion of the barriers to innovation and to internationalisation also stressed that barriers can vary across countries, for instance because sectoral specialisations differ across countries and the principal drivers of innovation are different from one sector to another. This calls for differentiated policy approaches, both nationally and sectorally. Many participants emphasised the need to individualise internationalisation support according to the size and age of companies. Furthermore, Alison Cavey of Orion Innovations argued that “SMEs in the more mature sectors have to look to international markets if they are to make a commercial success of their innovations. In doing so, they often need support to fully understand foreign and/or global end-user markets, and tailor-made support for this can make a significant difference to their potential for success." The second INNO-Grips workshop focused on the question whether innovation policy can be an effective means to foster economic recovery in a recession by means of adopting measures to attain short term goals. Researchers from the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln had prepared a policy brief on this question assessing the effectiveness of such approaches. In discussing the findings, participants agreed that short-term measures can prevent ongoing innovation projects from being cancelled or delayed. According to the policy brief and the workshop participants such “anti-cyclical” measures should focus in particular on SMEs. For example credits and tax incentives for innovation investments are means to counterbalance a possible decrease in private investments during economic downturns. It was also signalled that the appropriateness of specific measures depends largely on how the innovation cycle of a sector or company is evolving and on national and cultural circumstances. Furthermore, the participants widely agreed that a well-designed systemic approach – taking account of the national innovation system – is very important. Consequently, it was voiced that Member States and regions should not launch isolated actions, but act on the basis of an overall (national/systemic) framework for the promotion of innovation. For further information on INNO-Grips workshops, see: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/innogrips/workshops http://www.proinno-europe.eu/inno-grips-ii/newsroom/ barriers-internationalisation-and-growth-eus-innovative-co mpanies 1
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NEWS & EVENTS
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ew pe® The NINNO Euro PRO
PRO INNO Europe® is an initiative of the European Commission’s Directorate General Enterprise and Industry. It aims to become the focal point for innovation policy analysis and policy cooperation in Europe, with the view to learning from the best and contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe. The newsletter of the PRO INNO Europe® initiative © European Commission. Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged. EDITORIAL CONTACT AND TO SUBSCRIBE: newsletter@proinno-europe.eu PUBLISHED BY: INNOVATION PIE and all other elements of the Promotion of PRO INNO Europe® Results project are performed by a consortium of companies headed by INNOVA Europe sàrl (Luxembourg). LEGAL NOTICE: This publication has been produced as part of the PRO INNO Europe® initiative. The views expressed in this report, as well as the information included in it, do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission and in no way commit the institution. This newsletter is financed under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) which aims to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises. Printed on responsible forest management paper with vegetable-based ink.
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NEWS FROM THE EPISIS WORKSHOPS ON “IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND SERVICE INNOVATION” Although services have become the most important economic sector for any developed country and therefore deserve particular policy and research attention, the current knowledge transfer systems and mechanisms to underpin service innovation in Europe are not well aligned with each other nor are many of them effectively exploited. This was one of the questions that were discussed during 2 EPISIS workshops in November 2010 to shed further light on this issue and to provide means for policy improvement. To come up with inputs for discussion at the workshops, an online survey was conducted among distinguished European experts in service innovation in order to provide quantitative data on applied transfer measures promoting service innovation in Europe. The survey results were consequently reviewed and discussed during the two November workshops at the Fraunhofer ISI, Germany. Both the survey and workshop activities clearly showed that although there is multitude of different transfer measures available and applied across Europe, there are no indications of a particularly popular and successful transfer measure. Furthermore, it appeared that none of the consulted experts are overly satisfied with the overall performance of single country’s transfer system. Also, the expert workshop participants argued that the lack of performance is not so much related to a lack of appropriate transfer measures, but to the transfer system itself. In this regard, one expert stated that “we have a good tool box of readily available knowledge transfer measures, but we lack a general understanding of the transfer processes related to service innovations, and thus, have not yet a real clue on when and in which context to apply these instruments”. Hence, one of the most popular suggestions for policy improvement was to stop hunting for “new” transfer measures, but rather to focus on researching knowledge transfer in service innovations itself.
NEW PROGRAMME TO SUPPORT ECO-INNOVATION 'Better policies and instruments in support of eco-innovation' is an INNO-Net for eco-innovation policy makers to be set up under the PRO INNO Europe® initiative. The network will be launched early 2011 and will run for 3 years as part of the Environmental Technologies Action Plan. Public policy plays a central role in motivating eco-innovation. The eco-innovation INNO-Net will fill the emerging need to analyse eco-innovation policies in the Member States, facilitate networking between policy makers to ensure cross-fertilisation of ideas and identify "best practice" policy examples that merit scaling up and dissemination throughout the EU. In the light of current environmental and economic challenges, the network will focus on 3 policy areas for eco-innovation: Recycling, Green Public Procurement and International Actions. The INNO-Net will also set up a Reflection Group to analyse latest policy developments, investigate the role of public policies and actors, as well as promote promising policy approaches. WEEK OF INNOVATIVE REGIONS IN EUROPE (WIRE 2011) Following WIRE 2010, held in Spain last March, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will host WIRE 2011 on 7-9 June 2011. The three-day event will take place in Debrecen, Hungary, and will be organised jointly with the European Commission, DG Research. The conference will place particular emphasis on synergies between different policies and programmes. Participants will discuss the future of research and innovation policy on the basis of Council recommendations on the interaction of different systems oriented towards knowledge-based competitiveness.