"The EU's ambitious innovation targets can be reached through effective collaboration in the cities and regions between industry, academia and regional and local administrations, addressing societal challenges such as climate change, increased resilience and digital transformation." Markku Markkula, made these remarks when presenting the CoR opinion on 'A New Innovation Agenda for Europe' during a SEDEC Commission meeting held in Brno.
Markkula referred to successful initiatives and best practices by cities and regions, including EU campaigns with the CoR, such as Citizen Dialogues, Innovation Camps, European Entrepreneurial Regions and Science Meets Regions, which have demonstrated how local embedding helps to initiate a challenge-focused dialogue with diverse actors' local networks to overcome institutional and mindset barriers in tackling societal challenges.
In his opinion, Markkula welcomes the recognition of the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) pilot initiative and, more specifically, the acknowledgement of the role of the PRI in promoting Deep Tech Valleys and interregional innovation investments but regrets that in its communication, the European Commission missed the opportunity to highlight the need for a strong link between local innovation ecosystems and the European Research Area (ERA) via the ERA hubs.
The President of the Helsinki Region stressed that success in EU innovation can only be achieved through local/regional action. In this regard he encouraged cities and regions to establish their missions, such as Green Deal Going Local and Digitalisation roadmaps and action plans. He added that these should be based on Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies and should utilise EU, national, regional, and local funding instruments, both public and private.
The rapporteur also proposes that the regional innovation valleys, together with leading higher education institutes (HEIs) should become essential catalysts for societal and industrial change and should enable regions with similar areas of specialisation to collaborate and take forward joint innovation projects.
Background
The Commission adopted a New European Innovation Agenda to position Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups.
The New European Innovation Agenda sets out 25 dedicated actions under five flagships:
- Funding Scale-Ups
- Enabling innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement
- Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU
- Fostering, attracting and retaining deep tech talents
- Improving policy making tools