The Innovation clusters’ ecosystem of the Piedmont Region
About this good practice
The Piedmont Region is considered a “moderate innovator+” among EU Regions and a region in industrial transition. OECD analysis (2021) showed the need for a revised approach in regional cluster policies to foster innovation and to avoid economic decline in Piedmont: it recommended to regional policy makers to strengthen the cooperation among the clusters to create a proper integrated regional innovation ecosystem.
Sistema Poli Piemonte is the new organisational model launched in 2022 to enhance the sectorial skills acquired since 2009 by the Clusters, to amplify knowledge and opportunities for companies and SMEs and for the whole territory.
The new governance model transformed the innovation ecosystem from a synergy model to a systematic one, to contribute to the digital and sustainable objectives.
Sistema Poli Piemonte has 4 main aims: to increase the impact of regional R&I policies; to foster the technology transfer for a smarter region; to accelerate the growth of the Piedmontese production ecosystem; to identify a common methodology aiming to systematise data and expertise to create more effective actions.
It is participated by 7 regional Innovation Clusters, managed by 10 organisations as follow: CLEVER (Environment Park & Un.I.Ver.); CGREEN (Proplast, Science and Technology Park in Valle Scrivia & IBIS Consortium); MESAP (Centro Servizi Industrie); PO.IN.TEX (Città Studi); Agrifood (M.I.A.C.); BioPmed (Bioindustry Park Silvano Fumero); ICT (Piemonte Innova Foundation).
Resources needed
February 2022 – July 2023: 2.500.000 € (Human resources around 340 person/month)
September 2023 – December 2026: around 12.500.000 € (Human resources around 1470 person/month)
50 % Funded by Piedmont Region (PR FESR)
Evidence of success
Sistema Poli Piemonte represents a successful organisational model to foster innovation for the digital and green transformation of SMEs and the whole territory, since it transformed the existing regional innovation environment into a proper innovation ecosystem. The result is a systemic model, achieved through an agreement between the Clusters managing entities, which organise their activities along the three cross-cutting components of innovation (green, digital and well-being of communities).
Potential for learning or transfer
This new Innovation ecosystem model represents a potential for learning, since its aim is to contribute to the management of the innovation policies through a transversal approach: main innovation trends do not only have a vertical thrust and they therefore need a more holistic approach, such as the one implemented by Sistema Poli Piemonte.
Finally, the revised cluster policy of the Piedmont Region and the creation of the Sistema Poli Piemonte put the OECD policy recommendation into practice: the OECD had indeed suggested to Piedmont’s policy makers that, in order to foster the regional innovation ecosystem, they needed to continue using clusters as drive of regional development, by strengthening the collaboration among the seven cluster management organisations and by promoting clusters as strategic intelligence hubs for the regional territory.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.