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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:
http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/
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 may be found on the strategy's official website[3].
Contributor information[4]
Name of sender: / Lena Finne JanssonContact details:
(address, telephone, email) / Tillväxtavdelningen/KLF
Torggatan 10
SE-89188 Örnsköldsvik
+46660 88125
On behalf of:
(name of local or regional authority) / Örnsköldsvik municipality
Type of organisation / City/Town/Municipality Region
County/Province Association of local and/or regional authorities
Other (please specify)
Country: / Sweden
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:
1. In times of fiscal constraints, the EU and Member States need to continue to invest in education, R&D, innovation and ICTs.
2. EU and national research & innovation systems need to be better linked up with each other and their performance improved.
3. 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.
4. Access to EU programmes must be simplified and 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.
5. 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.
6. European Innovation Partnerships should be launched.
7. Strengths in design and creativity must be better exploited.
8. Social innovation must be championed and a better understanding of public sector innovation developed, identifying and giving visibility to successful initiatives.
9. Better work with our international partners is needed. That also means adopting a common EU front where needed in international (trade) negotiations.
The Innovation Union flagship initiative has evolved since its launch in 2010. New building blocks, such as the Smart Specialisation Platform and five European Innovation Partnerships have already been launched (the EIPs on: Active and Healthy Ageing; Agricultural Sustainability and Productivity; Smart Cities and Communities; Water; and Raw Materials). All these elements as well as news of events are publicly available on or through the EU Commission's dedicated Innovation Union website.
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:
Investment in Kunskapsnod Örnsköldsvik (municipal executive committee), co-financing of FoU Västernorrland [R&D Västernorrland] (care and humanities committee), Vinnova projects such as eSPINN (link to the political desire for all geographical municipalities to have access to broadband and e-services) and, of course, the various departments work on development – often in cooperation with higher education institutions (various committees).
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:
Örnsköldsvik municipality is intending to develop an international strategy. Pending completion of that strategy, we are focusing on contributing in various ways to research and development in those contexts where a municipal organisation can get involved. We are active in various structural funds programmes, in academic institutions' EU applications, and in various skills development programmes (e.g. study visits, school programmes). However, this is all done in line with what is allowed under the municipal organisation's scoreboard and Swedish law.
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:
Mainly linked to specific targeted areas (e.g. e-services for all)
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:
......
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?
Not directly
1.6 Stimulating social innovation / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don’t know
Brief description:
Indirectly, via investment in structural funds programmes, work in the North Sweden Europe Forum, co-financing of the MidSweden Office
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:
Work on the municipality's international strategy, the conditions for investment in the Kunskapsnod Örnsköldsvik and involvement in the North Sweden Europe Forum, Northern Sparsely Populated Areas and Botnia Atlantica show a clear willingness to contribute to this goal
1.8 Encouraging innovation in the public sector[7] / Policy programmes/actions contributing to this aim?
Yes No Don’t know
Brief description:
Work is ongoing, but is not formalised. Development and renewal are included on the municipality's scoreboard – but there are no indicators relating to our own organisation's level of innovation.
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)
Developing the level of innovation in the public sector in a structured and effective way – for example, municipalities are required to complete tasks for which there are currently no solutions, and developing innovative procurement will not be enough in this context, as the challenges are too large and too complex.
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 develop 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-exhausive 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
Ø 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.
Not directly at municipal level, but a regional development strategy has been developed (the RDS for Västernorrland county council), smart specialisation is included in the documentation on the upcoming structural funds period, and discussions and work are ongoing within the North Sweden Europe Forum.
Ø 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
Ø If you answered "yes" please describe how.
Referred to both in the regional development strategy and in the documentation on the upcoming structural funds period. The municipality is also aware of how important the cultural and creative sector is for development, but is not going so far that it could be described as smart specialisation; rather, it involves more tangible efforts such as developing the "art valley", visitor attractions etc. We are also actively involved in the European Capital of Culture 2013.
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 (I3S)[14]. 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:
The answers are based on our view of the discussions at municipal level, though we would note that only a few people in a municipality take part in those discussions.
6) Overall, what are the strong and weak points of the Innovation Union flagship initiative, as seen from your regional/local standpoint?
Strengths: More discussion on innovation and its importance, greater networking and dissemination of knowledge across the EU, better funding opportunities, greater awareness.
Weaknesses: It is important to be close to the target groups. Moreover, important innovative brainstorming work may be lost if the focus is only on excellence and specialisation.
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
Follow up on whether it has actually made a difference for the target groups – have there been improvements in care for the elderly, have services become more accessible to the public, have environmental problems been resolved, etc.
Are your country's policies relevant to your city or region?