S3P T&BD
Last 14th of December, the Joint Research Centre organised the fourth Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) Plenary meeting. The central objective of the online workshop was focused on getting a better understanding of how interregional collaboration can support systemic transformation.
The objectives of the meeting were how contribute to the New European Innovation Agenda’s ambition of building a true pan-European innovation ecosystem underpinned by thriving regional innovation ecosystems, to introduce Interregional Cooperation as one of the main drivers of PRI, to share the new challenges and needs of PRI territories, to explore new avenues for interregional cooperation and to introduce the future policy tools for Interregional Cooperation.
S3P Traceability & Big Data was invited to share its experience on interregional cooperation and raising funding, sharing the panel with other interregional initiatives such as M-ERA.NET, Vanguard Initiative, BDIH Konexio and Cities 4.0. After this panel, 6 Break Out Sessions were organised about financial mechanisms for systemic and transforming innovation on interregional cooperation, innovation services in cooperation and collaboration on policies and tools accelerating transformation.
The afternoon panel was focused on European policy instruments to support interregional cooperation, specifically, the new European Innovation Agenda, climate adaptation missions, the policy instruments supporting industrial value chains and the Interreg Program. Moreover, new break out sessions were done about 4 thematic topics such as food security, renewable energy, mobility, transport & automotive and climate adaptation.
PRI is a new strategic approach to innovation-driven territorial transformation, aimed at linking EU priorities with national plans and territorial challenges and opportunities. In May 2022, the Joint Research Centre published the first ‘Partnerships for Regional Innovation Playbook’ that can serve as a basis for co-creation with the seventy-four territories that were selected to take part to the PRI Pilot. The four Member States, 63 regions, 7 cities and six networks that are part of the pilot will co-develop and test new tools and governance mechanisms to integrate initiatives and investment in strategic areas and link placed-based opportunities and challenges to EU priorities.
The Partnerships will be firmly anchored in the EU policy framework, supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal, Horizon Europe, Cohesion policy and NextGenerationEU. Particular attention will be placed on tools and governance mechanisms that mobilise multiple sources of funding and policies to amplify impact and that can help connect regional and national initiatives to EU initiatives for the twin transition.