Lorelei Hunt Director of Innovation South West of England Regional Development Agency Örebro (Sweden), 17 June 2009 Mid-term review European Regional Development Fund

Content What happened within the first project phase –Summits –Conferences What have we done –Roadmaps –Posters –Good Practice Exchange –Dissemination –Reports Results –Partnership –Lessons Learnt

Philosophy “… Regions with strong innovation support structures will be strengthened and more competitive after the current crisis ….”

RAPIDE - Summits 1 Launch –in Torun (Poland) on 29 October 2008) 3 Working Summits –Effective Partnership (Cardiff, 9 December) –Financing Innovation (Patras, February 2009) –Managing Risk (Bath, April 2009) 1 RAPIDE Discussion Forum –Impact of the financial crisis on innovation (Brussels, 20 April 2009)

RAPIDE at Conferences Regions For Economic Change (Brussels, 17 February 2009) –300 participants in the WS Innovation in Services (Helsinki, 9-10 March 2009) –100 participants Europe’s creative regions (Brussels, 20 April 2009) –300 participants Research Connection 2009 (Prague, 7-8 May 2009) –1200 participants PRO INNO Partnering Event (Rotterdam, May 2009) –90 participants

RAPIDE - Outputs 12 Roadmaps –Definition of stakeholder –Clarification of first ideas for the Action Plan 36 Poster of good practices –Effective Partnership –Financing Innovation –Managing Risk Dissemination –3 Newsletter –1 Website –1 Leaflet –2 press releases INTERREG Report

RAPIDE - Results Partnership –Strong co-operation between the partners –Close relationship to the EC Lessons Learnt –Partnership – strong partnership based on trust and leadership –Financing innovation – promoting rapidity and sustainability –Managing Risks – being prepared for failure Policy Recommendations –To regional and national authorities: –To the European Commission

Benjamin Kuscher RAPIDE Project Manager South West of England Regional Development Agency Örebro (Sweden), 17 June 2009 Mid-term outlook European Regional Development Fund

Content What will happen within the second project phase –Action Group meetings (virtual & face to face) –Peer Reviews –1 conference –Dissemination events What will we do –Minutes from Action group meetings –Action Plan Background paper –Peer Review Reports –Action Plans Results –Committed Stakeholders –Implemented Actions

RAPIDE - Milestones 1.Action Group Work Plan (17 June 2009) 2.Action Group Expert Meetings (Summer and autumn 2009) 3.Mutual review of Background Papers (October 2009) 4.Action Plan Background Paper (October 2009) 5.1st peer review of Action Plan (January 2010) 6.2nd peer review of Action Plan (March 2010) 7.Final Action Plan agreed with stakeholders (May 2010) 8.Final Conference (Magdeburg, June 2010)

RAPIDE – Action Groups Innovative ways of public procurement – foster innovation by new ways of public procurement Co-operation between academia and businesses – new ways of bringing innovation from the lab to market Innovation Voucher – to strengthen the link between SMEs and R&D Effective Funding – by stimulating private venture capital Innovation Incubators – to increase the effectiveness of incubators

Lorelei Hunt Director... South West of England Regional Development Agency Örebro (Sweden), 17 June 2009 Mid-term policy recommendations European Regional Development Fund

RAPIDE – Policy Recommendations To regional and national authorities: –Scarce public support should adopt the type of decision processes used by private sector investors –Assessment of funding applications should be more transparent, coherent and reliable –Policy makers should recognise the value of learning from past business failures; and encourage learning and second start ups –Policy needs to take measures to support the investors in risk taking; and this requires the public sector to also take risk –Drive innovation in businesses through innovative procurement methods –R&D mangers need international communication skills

RAPIDE – Policy Recommendations To the European Commission: –EC should be more flexible regarding outputs and outcomes within regional innovation programmes –EU regulations should promote the use of innovative procurement methods –Article 55 on state aid should be further amended and not apply to innovative projects. –The EC should reduce bureaucratic steps needed to apply for projects within the FP7 and futureFP8 programmes –IPR regulations need to be aligned between different EU funding programmes

For more information RAPIDE: Interreg IVC: SW RDA: DG Regio: European Regional Development Fund Lorelei Hunt Director of Innovation South West of England Regional Development Agency Örebro (Sweden), 17 June 2009 Benjamin Kuscher RAPIDE Project Manager South West of England Regional Development Agency Örebro (Sweden), 17 June 2009