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EU Local and Regional Authorities'Contribution to the
Mid-term Review of Europe 2020
Assessment of the Innovation Union flagship initiative
CDR5172-2013_00_00_TRA_TCD
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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 onInnovation Union, as seen from thelocal 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 may be found on the strategy's official website[3].
Contributor information[4]
Name of sender: / Cristina Rocha, Head of International Relations DivisionContact details:
(address, telephone, email) / R. do Ouro, 49, 4º andar – 1100 – 060 Lisbon
Tel. + 351 21 322 73 66;
On behalf of:
(name of local or regional authority) / Lisbon City Council
Type of organisation / City/Town/Municipality Region
County/Province Association of local and/or regional authorities
Other (please specify)
Country: / Portugal
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 Unioninitiative[5] was adopted in 2010, as an integral part of Europe 2020[6]. The overall aim of this flagship initiative is to re-focusresearch 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 other and 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 simplified and their leverage effect on private sector investment enhanced,sinceour 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 Partnerships should be launched.
- Strengths in design and creativity must be better exploited.
- Social innovationmust 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)?
1.1 Investing 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:
In Lisbon, programmes are being implemented under the NSRF or with national resources focused on support for R&D, innovation and ICT. They are not managed by the city council although the council has been mobilising local players to take advantage of the opportunities available in this field.
1.2 Providing 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:
Within the city council, a Lisbon/Europe 2020 task force was set up to prepare the city's active involvement in the Europe 2020 strategy and make the best possible use of the resources available in the next Community programming period 2014-2020. The aim is to ensure a viable development strategy for the city, enlisting in this participatory process universities, the business world, social and cultural institutions and civil society in general,helping and encouraging these players to make maximum use of EU funds and initiatives. Additionally, two of the ten thematic areas for intervention defined by the city address these objectives, namely: Lisbon - city of learning and research, and Entrepreneurship and employability.
Under the NSRF there are also instruments for encouraging Portuguese bodies to take part in the 7th framework programme and the new Horizon 2020 programme which have been used by regional bodies. They are not managed at local level.
1.3 Encouraging 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:
Under the NSRF, the regional operational programme includes instruments to encourage the use of results of research projects in innovative products and services with a regional impact. They are not managed at local level.
1.4 Removing 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:
Under the NSRF, the regional operational programme includes instruments covering venture capital and business angels, designed to improve access to funding for innovative projects. They are not managed at local level.
1.5 Participating in one of the European Innovation Partnerships / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don’t know
If so, which one?
......
1.6 Stimulating social innovation / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don’t know
Brief description:
The BIP/ZIP programme (priority intervention neighbourhoods and priority intervention zones) has been in operation since 2011. Its aim is to promote social innovation by mobilising partnerships and small local schemes to improve the "habitats" concerned, supporting local projects which help to boost socio-spatial cohesion within the municipal area.
1.7 Cooperation with international partners in the field of research and innovation / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don’t know
Brief description:
In Lisbon, these include programmes under the NSRF and other bilateral instruments to encourage participation in international networks in the research and innovation field. They are not managed at local level.
1.8 Encouraging innovation in the public sector[7] / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don’t know
Brief description:
In addition to national programmes under the NSRF (the SAMA instrument), Lisbon City Council has also developed the SIMPLIS instrument. This aims to provide simpler and more innovative procedures in the local public sector, with a view to improving the service provided to local residents.
2)One of the main aims of the Europe 2020 Strategy is to increaseinvestments 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 todevelop smart 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 theInnovation Unionflagship 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.
With preparation underway in the Lisbon NUTS II region (this being the territorial level considered appropriate for defining these strategies), Lisbon City Council decided to work in coordination with the main local players, in the context of the abovementioned Lisbon/Europe 2020 task force, in order to identify the aspects which it feels should be included in the city's and region's smart growth strategy, and to identify the main action lines of this strategy. The following were identified:
ACTION LINE ON CONSOLIDATING AND REVITALISING THE EXISTING ECONOMIC FABRIC
- Support for business modernisation – encouraging businesses, especially SMEs, to modernise and become more competitive,by helping them to develop key factors for today's competitiveness (innovation, technology, skilled human resources etc.), reduce external costs andfoster economies of scale, in order to enable the sustainable creation of more and better opportunities for investment and employment;
- Support for innovation and the transfer of knowledge – encouraging empowerment and development of innovative environments, with the aim of creating economic and/or social value and improving companies' competitive position, helping to create better quality jobs, more efficient production, environmental sustainability and sustainable growth for Portugal.
- Encouraging the creation of jobs and entrepreneurship – both as a job-creation mechanism and as a key instrument for modernising the economy, the promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship offers an important alternative to work as an employee. A wider culture of initiative, innovation and risk should be promoted in society as a whole and in the education and training system in particular;
- Promoting vocational training and skilling of human resources – skills are a key factor in modernisation processes, underpinning sustained knowledge-based innovation processes, so promoting them is essential. At the same time, training and skills are basic instruments for combating social exclusion and poverty; measures focused on less skilled workers, such as young people who did not complete their schooling, are thus of central importance;
- Promoting on-going training and re-training throughout working life – given the large number of young people who leave school early, and the effect this has on their employability, it is important to devise measures specially tailored to adults and young adults, in the context of lifelong learning.At the same time, the restructuring of the city's economic base requires that particular attention be paid to the individuals affected by this process, ensuring that they receive appropriate re-training and get back into the labour market.
- Support for cultural and creative industries– cultural and creative industries currently account for almost 3% of EU GDP. In Portugal in 2010 the sector already represented 2.8% of gross value-added and 2.6% of employment. Its importance in the context of the knowledge society and achieving the Europe 2020 strategy objectives is widely recognised, as is its potential for growth and integration into international circuits. Strengthening Lisbon's role in a globalised world will necessarily involve developing and achieving the full potential of its cultural and creative industries;
- Ensuring highly skilled human resources– another key requisite for strengthening the existing economic fabric, creating the conditions for new emerging activities and attracting external investment is the availability of highly skilled human resources. At this level, a strong emphasis must be placed on support for skilling, research, innovation and internationalisation of higher education institutes; on promoting the right conditions for students; on attracting talent; and on promoting vocational training and skilling of human resources, together with re-training and lifelong learning.
- Promoting links with universities and research centres– the knowledge generated in universities and other higher education institutes and in the scientific world is not an added value but an absolutely vital resource for ensuring Lisbon's fullentry into the knowledge society. Harnessing and developing this potential by means of partnerships, the development of joint projects and support for the transfer of knowledge to the market is thus a priority task.
- Improving access to ITC – particularly in terms of infrastructure, access to broadband, ensuring maximum access for local residents, and promoting the skills and capabilities needed for real digital inclusion;
- Encouraging the use of ITC– ITC are one of the available tools which can play a fundamental role in improving the management, productivity and use of resources in a wide variety of fields, from the management of the city to the development of economic activities and production systems.Encouraging public institutions and the private sector to make use of ITC and of the knowledge generated in this field by universities and innovation and technological development centresalso entails more networking, cooperation and partnership between all these players. Action in this field also calls for measures to strengthen the transfer and application of knowledge, with the creation of networks and partnerships to this end.
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 Action Line on harnessing the knowledge society includes a specific support measure for cultural and creative industries.
How is the Innovation Unionrelevant to your city or region?