EU local and regional authorities contributing to the mid-term review of Europe 2020
Assessment of the Innovation Union flagship initiative
Three years after its launch, the Committee of the Regions will take stock of the Innovation Union flagship initiative at a conference to be held on 27 November 2013 in Brussels. This conference will be the seventh in a series of CoR events and monitoring initiatives surrounding the mid-term review of Europe 2020. More news on this conference can be found on the CoR website[1].
By participating in this survey, you will:
ensure that your views are taken into account in the debate held during the conference;
contribute to the CoR's consultative activity in this field over the coming months;
provide input to the CoR's contribution to the mid-term review of Europe 2020.
IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS SURVEY, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS QUESTIONNAIRE IN ANY EU LANGUAGE, USING THE SPACES PROVIDED, AND RETURN IT IN TEXT FORMAT TO:
by 27 September 2013
For more information on this survey and for details on how to join the
Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, go to:
The questionnaire is available on this website in all official EU languages
You can find more information on Innovation Union, as seen from the local and regional authorities' viewpoint, in the Committee of the Regions' publication Delivering on the Europe 2020 Strategy - A Handbook for Local and Regional Authorities[2]. General information on Europe 2020 can be found on the strategy's official website[3].
Contributor information[4]
Name of sender: / Martin HakelContact details: (address, telephone, email) / Sabinovská 16, 820 25 Bratislava, +421 2 48264824,
On behalf of:
(name of local or regional authority) / Bratislava Self-Governing Region
Type of organisation / City/Town/Municipality Region
County/Province Association of local and/or regional authorities
Other (please specify)
Country: / Slovakia
Member of the EUROPE 2020 Monitoring Platform: / Yes
No
Policy challenges and responses at regional and local level
BOX 1Innovation Union as specified in the European Commission's Communication
The Innovation Union initiative[5] was adopted in 2010, as an integral part of Europe 2020[6]. The overall aim of this flagship initiative is to re-focus research and development (R&D) and innovation policy on the challenges facing our society, such as climate change, energy, health and demographic change. Innovation Union is a crucial investment in our future. For example, it is estimated that achieving the target of investing 3% of EU GDP on R&D by 2020 could create 3.7 million jobs and increase annual GDP by €795 billion by 2025. The flagship initiative contains the following aims:
- In times of fiscal constraints, the EU and Member States need to continue to invest in education, R&D, innovation and ICTs.
- EU and national research & innovation systems need to be better linked up with each otherand their performance improved.
- Education systems at all levels need to be modernised. Excellence must become the guiding principle even more than before. Researchers and innovators must be able to work and cooperate across the EU as easily as within national borders. The European Research Area must be completed.
- Access to EU programmes must be simplifiedand their leverage effect on private sector investment enhanced, since our research needs to result in more innovation.Cooperation between the worlds of science and business must be enhanced, obstacles removed and incentives put in place.
- The remaining barriers for entrepreneurs to bring "ideas to market" must be removed: we must have better access to finance, particularly for SMEs, affordable intellectual property rights, smarter and more ambitious regulations and targets and a faster setting of interoperable standards.
- European Innovation Partnershipsshould be launched.
- Strengths in design and creativity must be better exploited.
- Social innovation must be championed and a better understanding of public sector innovation developed, identifying and giving visibility to successful initiatives.
- Better work with our international partners is needed. That also means adopting a common EU front where needed in international (trade) negotiations.
1)What type of policy programmes/actions are being implemented in your city/region to support the policy goals of the Innovation Union (see Box 1)?
1.1Investing in R&D, innovation and ICT (own resources, public-private partnerships, other sources…) / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
Bratislava region's regional innovation strategy (RIS3) for 2014–2020 was conceived in line with the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) methodology, this being a prior condition for receiving structural funds for science, research and innovation in the next planning period. The strategy's main aim is to create an R&D and innovationregion of European standing linked to the European and global economy and to achieve a critical concentration in the region of technology companies (including high-tech companies) in specified areas of technology.
1.2Providing support to potential beneficiaries to access EU funds and participate in EU initiatives in the field of research and innovation / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
......
1.3Encouraging the use of the results of research projects in innovative products and services / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
One of the aims set out in the 2014–2020 regional innovation strategy is to stimulate the transfer of research outcomes to the work of research institutes in the region.
1.4Removing barriers to innovation, such as expensive intellectual property rights and limited access to finance / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
......
1.5Participating in one of the European Innovation Partnerships / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
If so, which one?
We are part of the international Centrope partnership, which covers the central European area (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary) and comprises eight borderland regions with a total population of around 6.5 million. It is an area in which four countries and four languages come together. Collaboration in research and education, strategic alliances between universities, improved means of transferring know-how between research and industry and support for business innovation: these all make a direct contribution to the emergence of technology and research clusters and hence to increasing the central European region's potential for economic success.
1.6Stimulating social innovation / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
......
1.7Cooperation with international partners in the field of research and innovation / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
Within the Centrope partnership (see response to question 1.5)
1.8Encouraging innovation in the public sector[7] / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don't know
Brief description:
......
2)One of the main aims of the Europe 2020 Strategy is to increase investments in R&D to 3% of EU GDP. This target is underpinned by several actions under Innovation Union. The latest Innovation Union Scoreboard[8] of the European Commission, a progress monitoring tool, shows that there are big differences in the progress made towards this target across the EU. Which of the following challenges would you consider as the most urgent to address?
Multiple answers possible
Under-investment in the existing knowledge base (infrastructure, public research centres etc.);
Poor access to finance for innovative start-ups;
High costs of intellectual property rights (IPRs);
Ineffective use of the innovation possibilities offered by public procurement;
Fragmentation and costly duplication of projects and programmes;
No strategic approach to innovation at national level;
No real cooperation between research and industry, limited scale of bringing ideas to market;
So-called "brain-drain" (best talents leaving Europe for opportunities elsewhere);
Other (please specify)
......
BOX 2
Regional Policy contributing to smart growth in Europe
The Communication of the European Commission entitled "Regional Policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020"[9] [COM(2010) 553] sets out the role of regional policy in implementing the Europe 2020 strategy[10] in the area of smart growth and in particular the flagship initiative Innovation Union[11].
The Communication calls on national and regional governments to developsmart specialisation strategies to maximise the impact of regional policy in combination with other EU policies. As a follow-up, in June 2011 the European Commission launched an online platform with a set of tools which can be used to optimise the development of local and regional smart strategies. The Smart Specialisation Platform (SPP) provides users with practical guidelines such as the latest news and events, as well as many other features. In the Communication document, the European Commission provides a non-exhaustive list of ideas which regions could use to design their strategies:
1.Innovation clusters for regional growth
Clusters provide a favourable environment for fostering competitiveness and driving innovation. Support for their development needs to be concentrated on areas of comparative advantage.
2.Innovation-friendly business environments for SMEs
Regional and national authorities should support innovation-friendly business environments to assist SMEs, R&D-intensive ones especially, and the creation of new firms.
3.Lifelong learning in research and innovation
Focusing school, vocational and higher education curricula on cross-sector skills such as creativity and entrepreneurship will help young people to develop their full potential for innovation.
4.Attractive regional research infrastructure and centres of competence
National and regional authorities should consider, in particular, how EU regional policy can contribute to the 2015 objective of the Innovation Union flagship of completing or initiating 60% of the research infrastructure currently identified by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)[12].
5.Creativity and cultural industries
Cultural and creative industries, which flourish at local and regional level, are in a strategic position to link creativity and innovation[13]. They should be integrated into regional development strategies.
6.Digital agenda
With regard to the significance of ICT for the innovation system, Member States should consider how to better use the ERDF to accelerate achievement of the EU 2020 objectives for broadband access.
7.Public procurement
Innovative public procurement means the public sector taking on the role and risks of a lead customer, while improving the quality of its services and productivity.
3)In line with the Innovation Union flagship initiative and the additional Communication on "Regional Policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020" (see Box 2), local and regional authorities are encouraged to build smart specialisation strategies, as a condition for having access to EU Structural Funds available for investments in research and innovation. Does your region/city have a smart specialisation strategy?
Yes No Don't know
If you answered "yes" please describe briefly its main elements and the opportunities you have identified in your smart specialisation strategy, corresponding to the list in Box 2.
Bratislava region's regional innovation strategy (RIS3) for 2014–2020 was conceived in line with the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) methodology, this being a prior condition for receiving structural funds for science, research and innovation in the next planning period. The following areas of technology were proposed in line with the S3 methodology:
- materials
- ICTs
- biotechnology.
The implementation of RIS3 in the Bratislava region is an important factor in the economic development not only of the region, but the whole of Slovakia. It will contribute to the region's competitiveness, the creation of new skilled jobs, and the development of technology SMEs. It will also stimulate investment creating high added value, boost productivity and narrow the gap between Slovakia and the EU's developed regions.
If you answered "no" please let us know whether your region/city was asked by your national government to initiate a smart specialisation strategy.
Yes No Don't know
4)Innovation Union and the concept of smart specialisation encourage a better integration of cultural and creative industries in the overall economic development. Although they have a high innovation potential, they are not always included in strategies or projects. Are cultural and creative industries included in the economic development strategy and/or in the smart specialisation strategy of your city/region?
Yes No Don't know
If you answered "yes" please describe how.
The creative industries are one of the key support areas in the innovation strategy and the Economic and Social Development Plan for 2014–2020. The main support will come by enlisting stakeholders horizontally and vertically (national, region and local levels, including the work of various entities at these levels), be they profit, non-profit, individuals (artists) or organisations. However, "involving" also means funding, for example via organisations run by the Bratislava region: theatres, libraries, and arts centres, as well as cultural events held not only in the region, but also, for example, in Brussels.
How is the Innovation Union relevant to your city or region?
5)The Innovation Union contains 34 actions, which are listed with a detailed description on a dedicated platform: Innovation Union Information and Intelligence system[14](I3S). All actions are grouped under 12 thematic headings and an additional one on monitoring progress[15]. In your opinion and from a regional perspective, please state in which of these chapters has the EU made the most significant progress, which ones have good prospects and in which ones has the EU not done enough.Significant progress / Some progress and good prospects / No visible progress, more effort needed
Promoting excellence in education and skills development
Delivering measures for the European Research Area to be completed by 2014
Focusing EU funding instruments on Innovation Union priorities
Promoting the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) as a model of innovation governance in Europe
Enhancing access to finance for innovative companies
Creating a single innovation market
Promoting openness and capitalising on Europe's creative potential
Spreading the benefits of innovation across the EU
Increasing social benefits
Pooling forces to achieve breakthroughs: European Innovation Partnerships
Leveraging our policies externally
Reforming research and innovation systems
Additional comments:
......
6)Overall, what are the strong and weak points of the Innovation Union flagship initiative, as seen from your regional/local standpoint?
7)Would you recommend any specific changes to the Innovation Union flagship initiative, during the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy in 2014?
Please explain
Are your country's policies relevant to your city or region?
8)Does your country's 2013 (current) National Reform Programme[16](NRP) for Europe 2020 adequately respond to your regional/local needs in the policy areas covered by the Innovation Union flagship initiative (e.g. investments in R&D, bringing ideas to market, smart specialisation)?Yes No Don't know
Please explain
The National Reform Plan for 2013 offers a limited response to the region's needs.
Positive aspects:
Higher education reform was adopted in December 2012. The aim is to improve internal systems for ensuring quality and to improve the quality of distance learning and teaching. It also includes stimuli to increase the internationalisation of HEIs. However, there are not enough vocational bachelor degree courses. In 2012, an amended the law on vocational training and education was adopted. This creates a more elastic and tighter link between vocational institutions and the labour market. Pilot projects have been launched that create new work placements in companies.
Negative aspects:
High youth unemployment is the result of poor quality education and training systems – the reforms undertaken will have to be continued.
Little progress in forging a common and effective policy framework to support research, development and innovation.
Inadequate financial mechanisms to fund science and research from own resources (most resources in these areas come from structural funds)
9)Would you suggest any changes in your country's National Reform Programme for 2014 in the area of innovation?
Yes No Don't know
Please explain
As far as secondary vocational training is concerned, national education reform will have to be completed to ensure that these schools train pupils who will be able to get a job in future (including in areas associated with science, research and innovation): secondary schools fall directly under Bratislava Self-governing Region.
Regarding the implementation of the regional innovation strategy, a political consensus will have to be reached between all levels within the region (national, regional, local, universities, the Slovak Academy of Sciences, etc.).
More support for science and research from the national budget.
Policy and funding issues
10)Which of the sources of funding listed below are used to finance your actions under the Innovation Union flagship initiative? Are any other policy/financial instruments involved?Multiple answers possible
(The Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development)
Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP, 2007-2013):
► Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP)
► Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme
European Regional Development Fund
Lifelong Learning
Others? Please specify: ......
11)Are any of the actions you have undertaken to implement the Innovation Union flagship initiative (as stated in your answers to questions 1 and 2) carried out in partnership with different tiers of government? If so, please state (a) which administrative levels are involved and (b) which practical arrangements are taken to manage these actions jointly.
The Bratislava region innovation strategy 2014–2020 was conceived in collaboration with the national, regional and local tiers in the region, and with universities, the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the private sector.
One of the first steps is to have a political agreement on collaboration between national and regional bodies and the city of Bratislava and to create a management group comprising representatives of public administration, academia and industry.
12)The policy goals under Innovation Union require an integrated, multi-sector approach. They can be achieved only if relevant stakeholders are also involved. Do you have a strategy for involving these various actors, such as the different research institutions, innovation centres, hi-tech companies (especially SMEs) and members of the public? If so, what kind of involvement have you pursued (e.g. information campaigns, dedicated events, PPPs)?
Please explain
13)Please add any further comments you wish to make on the issues covered in this questionnaire.
SHARE YOUR GOOD PRACTICE
As part of the preparations for the CoR conference to be held on 27 November 2013 and to showcase good practices in areas covered by the Innovation Union flagship initiative (e.g. smart specialisation strategies, hi-tech clusters, bringing ideas to market, innovation in public administration), you are invited to submit examples of good practice from your local area.
Please complete the form available on our website:
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!