The European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) have launched the call of interest for a new pilot action on Partnerships for Regional Innovation. The Pilot Action will involve up to 24 European participants (Member States, regions or groups of regions) who feel driven to transform their economies and societies and who are willing to further develop their own strategic policy framework dealing with innovation, industrial development, sustainability transitions and broader economic and social development. The deadline for applications is 25 April 2022.

The Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) are a complementary approach, which builds on positive experiences with smart specialisation strategies. PRI aims to test tools to enhance the coordination and directionality of regional, national and EU innovation policies to implement Europe’s green and digital transitions and to tackle the innovation divide in the EU. PRI will be firmly anchored in the EU policy framework, supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal, Horizon Europe, Cohesion policy and NextGenerationEU.

The JRC will support the pilot and work closely with regions and Member States to co-develop a Playbook, linking participants to appropriate in-house or external expertise, developing relevant policy intelligence, documenting and disseminating broader lessons. The Pilot will also be supported by the dedicated Scientific Committee and other relevant experts.

Activities under the Pilot Action will be tailored to the areas of most interest for each participant. They can include:

• Exchanges of good practices
• In-depth policy reviews with the involvement of external experts
• Tailored analytical insights and support from JRC staff (e.g. resilience dashboards, complexity analysis…)

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More information

Partnerships for Regional Innovation. Call for Expression of Interest