Research and Experimental Development and Innovation (Smart specialisation) Concept
Implementation: 2022 - 2030.

Priorities, listed in the Concept implements 1st Strategic Objective of the National Development Plan "To move towards a sustainable economic development based on scientific knowledge, advanced technologies and innovation and to enhance the country's international competitiveness".

The following (non-exhaustive) progress targets:
1.1 Strengthen human resources and competences for the development of high-level science and science-based technologies.
1.2 Generate high-level scientific knowledge that enhances the country's competitiveness.
1.3 Encourage the emergence of science-intensive entrepreneurship and cooperation between science and business, and develop an entrepreneurial culture in science and study institutions.
1.5. Promote the development, deployment and diffusion of advanced technologies and innovations.

Directions for the development:
• To strengthening research and innovation capacities: creating an enabling environment and conditions, developing the necessary skills and capabilities.
• To develop and apply high-level scientific knowledge, advanced technologies and innovations in order to bring new and sustainable technologies, products, processes, techniques to the market.
• To promote active international cooperation and engagement of actors in the R&D&I priority ecosystem in international value chains, their creation and development.

The strategic plans of the Greater East Region (S3, SRDEII, Business Act, and SRESRI) include general actions of innovation and economic development through tech transfer, including actions towards spinoffs, incubators, such as to “accelerate the transformation of research into innovation” and to “structure the supply of technologies transferrable to companies”. The SRESRI will be addressed specifically in VIADUCT.

The Region funds a network of incubators:

• Quest for Change: that use a common methodology to assess over 350 proposals and incubate spinoffs in all its territory, as well as attracting exogenous spinoffs.
• Scal’E-nov: an accelerator for spinoffs.
• Team-to-market: a tool for recruiting talents for deeptech academic spinoffs stemming from SATTs (societies for accelerating tech transfer) is another tool financed by the Region and administered by the regional SATTs, including Conectus, and has led to the recruitment of a dozen external business specialists as CEOs.

Public research is an engine of economic growth and thus a regional focus, along with collaborative tech-transfer or co-maturation.
These actions from the policy instrument are designed to foster more spinoff creation in traditional and new areas from industry to medtech and greentech, in line with European priorities.
Those spinoffs will in turn support existing companies and increase innovation and competitiveness in the region.

For the 2021 to 2027 programming period the Operational Programme raises 14 Actions distributed in only 2 Political Objectives and 5 Specific Objectives. Within Policy objective 1 (A smarter Europe, and Specific objective 1.1 (Enhancing R&I capacities), the region faces the following challenges:

• Promote and consolidate R&D&I actions, fostering research into innovation and improving competitiveness, including the improvement of infrastructures for the development of activities in this field.
• Encourage structural changes in the business fabric aimed at the development of innovation applied to production processes, especially in the field of SMEs.
• Encourage the use of advanced technologies, reinforcing their applicability in the productive fabric (innovation of processes and resources), as well as the creation of effective channels for the transfer of knowledge.

The central concept of the mentioned policy includes measures focused on the promoted research linked to the needs of the productive sector, encouraging greater private sector participation in R&D&I. In this respect, the regional Operational Programme explicitly covers the impetus to promote effective collaboration between research groups and private companies. This is materialised in the form of a multiannual line of aid so that joint projects between the private sector and public research centres in the region can be carried out over a minimum of two years.

West Region aims to become a competitive region with a high level of RDI and digitalisation, capable of attracting and capitalising on investments, internally and internationally connected, whose citizens have an increased quality of life and benefit from efficient public services. ROP West is our response to the international context created by the COVID19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The negative economic impact, coupled with the increased pressure on the medical system, rising unemployment, bankruptcy of some companies, influx of migrants, decline in tourism and cultural activities are just some of the challenging effects felt at regional level. ROP West proposes a coordinated approach to respond to these challenges and ensures favourable conditions for socio-economic development.

Related to this specific objective, ROP West will support its own specific objectives:

• Developing the regional RDI ecosystem through market orientation and local, national and international collaboration;
• Preparing businesses for a digital future by increasing technological intensity, as well as encouraging the development of IT products and services;
• Increase the current use of digital and innovative technologies for interaction with citizens and business;
• Increase the number of SMEs in the region, their competitiveness and productivity, including through access to advanced institutional structures and support services;
• Diversifying and upgrading specific competences and skills

WREP is an implementation instrument under IJGGP (RSO1.3 Enhancing sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and job creation in SMEs, including by productive investments (ERDF)). It is a framework that defines the orchestration of collaborative initiatives of regional stakeholders (defined within ‘bottom-up’ strategic objectives and actions) - a programmatic response for enterprise creation (and support), towards achieving regional development goals, including a 33% increase in levels of regional entrepreneurship, a target identified in Project Ireland 2040.

WREP is an important part of the Programme for Government commitment to achieving more balanced regional enterprise development. A key directive is to "Identify emerging research and innovation assets, projects and developments, (…) aligning and aggregating existing data sources and innovation clusters."

The region has very strong educational and research capabilities, with 2 Universities, multiple research centres and a large cohort of students/researchers (ca. 65,000). It aims to develop clear pathways for innovation/spinouts.

WREP and associated programmatic framework calls for action to ‘Establish a specific program to target potential ‘spinouts’ and ‘raise profile of academic research, innovation, IP and partnership/collaboration potential’ in the region.

WREP is also supported by WDC operated Atlantic Region of Innovation funding framework, worth €5 million to develop, coordinate test and scale new policy approaches.

The Recovery strategy of Pieve di Soligo comes from the Veneto Region’s Recovery Plan, which is part of the European Recovery strategies such as the “Recovery plan for Europe” and “NextGeneration EU” programme. In the area the GAL Alta Marca Trevigiana has developed the PSL (Local Development Programme), a planning tool developed with a participatory approach, with the aim to develop and grow new forms of “active” fruition of the territory.

Pieve di Soligo aims to become a competitive territory with a high level of innovation and digitalisation, capable of attracting and capitalising investments as well as skilled workers.

The Recovery strategy of Pieve di Soligo address the national and local measures with an innovative approach. It will:

• Map and analyse the territorial business model to better understand the local characteristics and needs;
• Study the European guidelines of innovation, digitalisation and sustainability to match them with previous analysis;
• Organise thematic workshops with the main stakeholders of the territory and the region, to stimulate innovation and strategic processes;
• Develop and give to the local Universities a dynamic tool to stimulate and support new spinoff opportunities;
• Develop new financing and facilitating tools to incentivate the increasament of spinoffs and startups in the area;
• Create a strategic plan of the area summarizing the analysis and presenting the intended strategic development of the territory.

The priorities of the startup policy are:

• To improve the development of the startup ecosystem
• To improve services offered to startup and scale-up companies
• To outline the role of public sector organisations in the ecosystem

Measures for these priorities are:

• Commission resources and services for the startup ecosystem
• Monitor its development, so that resources and services are commissioned for different parts of the system: community building, commercialization of public research results, startup and scaleup services, infrastructures
• Create a coherent public service system for entrepreneurs and startups
• Attract new startups, entrepreneurs and investments
• Enhance public sector’s ability to create a flexible but long-term, ambitious policy for startup ecosystem development.

Knowledge transfer and commersialisation of public research have been recognised as objectives that need new measures. Strategic focus areas of the policy, annual plans, common resources and funded initiatives are planned and decided in the alliance meetings that are organised regularly. Moreover, also policy objectives are planned and designed together with the alliance members annually.

The Regional Council has a particular role in creating a state of play for the basis of the alliance’s decisions. This is done with the Situational Picture of Innovation that is published bi-annually. It is the main tool to monitor the innovation ecosystem in regional level.