European Commission : CORDIS : WIRE

"Smart Specialisation, innovation and open knowledge economy emerge as the driving forces for regional development, growth and building competiveness in a time of economic recession. This has been the main outcome of the 'Week of Innovative Regions in Europe', a two-day international conference which was successfully held in Athens (June, 12-13th) ... More than 60 speakers and 350 registrants from 30 countries participated in the event which highlighted the regional dimension of innovation. More than 1000 viewers watched the event web streaming live.  For the fifth year, high level officials from the world of research, enterprises and politics met in this significant forum to exchange ideas, recommendations and proposals regarding regional policies for development and growth. WIRE 2014 (www.wire2014.eu) was organised by the National Documentation Centre of Greece (EKT) and the European Commission, in collaboration with the General Secretariat for Research and Technology, under the auspices of the Greek EU presidency. With Europe’s attention to Athens, the conference succeeded in promoting the dialogue regarding how the Regions of Southern Europe design and implement regional policies during economic recession. The new Cohesion Policy for the programming period 2014- 2020 and the new funding opportunities for Regions provided the context for this year’s WIRE and a starting point for productive discussion.  During these two days, political agents of the European Union, Regions, academic/research institutions, enterprises and international organisations -such as OECD and World Bank- had the opportunity to share experiences and best practices leading to the design and effective implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies. Significantly, EU representatives presented the new funding opportunities for Regions: programmes such as Horizon 2020 (the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years) and European Structural and Investment Funds. Notably, Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 will go even further in terms of concentrating funding on research and innovation: in the developed regions, at least 80% of the Regional Development Fund will be invested in research and innovation and 50% will be the share for the less developed regions. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, addressed her keynote speech with a very clear message: Regions have to prioritise and countries have to reform their research and innovation systems in order to increase the quality and efficiency of public expenditure in these areas and re take the path to a strong and lasting recovery. The new funding scheme will contribute to tackling the research an innovation divide in Europe: Horizon 2020 couples research and innovation by focusing on excellent science and industrial leadership while the European Structural and Investment Funds are designed to ensure that this knowledge can be absorbed and used effectively. In this process, regions have a strong role to play: by identifying the most promising growth opportunities, they can reprioritise action and investments, build innovation frameworks using Smart Specialisation strategies and direct us towards solutions that foster growth and jobs. She also noticed that Research and Innovation is taking an increasingly prominent place in the broader EU policy framework and suggested that any reform of Member States' research and innovation systems should also encourage businesses to invest more in R&D and innovation ... WIRE 2014 website (www.wire2014.eu) and social webpages (#WIRE2014eu) -developed and maintained by the National Documentation Centre of Greece-, will soon host the speakers’ presentations and videos, exclusive interview footage with speakers and participants along with an extensive review of the conference’s outcomes. Our aim is to collect valuable resources and content material which was produced throughout the two-day conference, organise it and present it as a valuable guide for the Greek Regions which are currently designing and implementing their policies for research, innovation and growth ..."