18 May 2022
EC selects 63 regions, 7 cities and 4 Member States for pilot project Partnerships for Regional Innovation
On 17 May 2022, the European Commission (EC) announced the 63 regions, seven cities and four Member States selected in the pilot project for Partnerships for Regional Innovation, an initiative developed together with the Committee of the Regions. Participants in the pilot action are open to share good practices and to co-develop and test tools to mobilise multiple sources of funding and policies, and connect regional and national programmes to EU initiatives for the green and digital transformations. These Partnerships will feed into the new Innovation Agenda for Europe, where innovation drives the transformation for sustainability, connecting local strategies with EU-level initiatives. The selected territories will participate either on an individual basis or as part of six different networks of EU regions and cities. In total, 23 Member States are represented among the participants in the pilot action. The From Austria, the province of Lower Austria participates in one of the six networks.
The participants in the pilot project will explore the new Partnerships for Regional Innovation based on the ‘Partnerships for Regional Innovation Playbook', an initial guidance document by the Joint Research Centre. The Playbook proposes a wide range of tools and governance mechanisms to enhance the coordination of regional, national and EU innovation policies to implement Europe's green and digital transitions and to tackle the innovation divide in the EU. A core element of the proposed approach is the introduction of local missions to coordinate actions under a coherent directional logic, enabling the exploration of broad-ranging policy mixes for system-level innovation.
During the Pilot Action, the participants will test these policy tools while co-creating operational guidance. The Playbook and Pilot Action will also promote good practices, facilitate learning through experimentation and support public administrations and the broader ecosystem. The pilot action will not impact the current programming process of the 2021-2027 funds.
The Partnerships are rooted in the upcoming Innovation Agenda for Europe, to help integrate initiatives and investment at EU and national levels, in order to improve Innovation ecosystems as one essential area to boost Europe's innovation performance. The key objective is to strengthen interconnection of regional and local innovation ecosystems and to reinforce European sustainable value chains and deep-tech sectors.
For more information:
Partnerships for Regional Innovation – Smart Specialisation Platform