Online events and public consultations for Research and innovation
Regional policymakers can mark in their agendas two online events, a public consultation, and a public contribution to prepare for Horizon Europe, the Interregional Innovation Investment (I3), and the latest policy knowledge and trends related to the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) in the context of the next programming period 2021-2027.
Online event—European Research and Innovation Days
European Research and Innovation Days will be held online on 22-24 September 2020. The online event offers an opportunity for policymakers to debate the next research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe 2021-2027 and the European Green Deal. The programme revolves around ten topics that are highly relevant for Europe’s research and innovation, namely, policies to widen participation and European research, the Green Deal, digitalisation, Horizon Europe missions, smart implementation and synergies, international cooperation, European Innovation Council, European Institute of Innovation and Technology, and the European Research Council.
Register to European Research and Innovation Days here.
Webinar series—SMARTER Conference
This year, the SMARTER conference will focus on 'Smart Specialisation and Territorial Development: Connecting grand societal challenges with local goals in place-based innovation policy'. The Territorial Development Unit of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Regional Studies Association (RSA) will organise a series of six webinars tackling challenges faced by policymakers when designing and implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3). They will be held between 17 September and 3 December 2020. The first webinar will focus on place-based responses to the Covid-19 economic crisis on 17 September 2020 (10:00 - 12:00 CEST). The speakers will explore how Sustainable Smart Specialisation Strategies (S4), as a governance model based on a place-based approach of regional innovation policy, could play a key role in the recovery process.
The other webinars will focus on:
- Webinar 2: Smart Specialisation Strategies for Sustainability – opportunities for economic recovery and competitiveness on 6 October 2020 - 9:30-11:30 CEST
- Webinar 3: Smart Specialisation for Sustainable Development Goals on 10 November 2020 - 11:00-12:30 CET
- Webinar 4: Smart Specialisation: evidence, lessons, challenges and opportunities on 24 November 2020
- Webinar 5: Quality of life in European cities: are cities in Europe inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable? (November - date to be confirmed)
- Webinar 6: Urban strategies and Smart Specialisation on 3 December 2020
Register to the SMARTER conference here.
Public consultation—Interregional Innovation Investment (I3)
The European Commission has now opened its public consultation on Interregional Innovation Investment supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (I3, also known as Component 5). The initiative, which has an indicative budget of 0,5 billion euros, aims to help actors involved in smart specialisation strategies (S3) to cluster in order to accelerate innovation and transfer of research results, to mobilise public-private investments, to scale-up and build EU value chains, and to bring innovation and research results to the European market.
The public consultation mainly focuses on thematic areas to prioritise, on new instruments, and on potential complementarities with EU instruments and actions. It is open until Wednesday 30 September 2020.
Public contribution—S3 good practices with a green focus
The S3 Platform is launching a call for contribution to S3 stakeholders across Europe with the view to disseminate inspiring S3 environmental-oriented initiatives. The public contribution must focus on energy transition, the circular economy, climate action, sustainable mobility, digitalisation for a greener economy, strategy to develop green S3 R&I policies, bioeconomy, etc. The good practices must give insights on the governance, and/or on the stakeholders’ involvement in the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process, and/or on the Monitoring and Evaluation mechanisms to foster the implementation of green activities, with a brief description of the policy tools and/or measures developed in this context.
We encourage good practice’s owners with S3 environmentally focused initiatives to submit their good practices to the S3 Platform by Thursday 24 September 2020.