Supporting regional-to-national innovation policies
To support Europe's goal of a global top-ranking competitive economy, the Lisbon Strategy calls for increased interregional cooperation in research, technological development and innovation (RTDI). Regions within the EU, therefore, have to take on a key role in the bottom-up development of policies that will facilitate their national and regional integration. Carried out within the framework of the European Research Area (ERA), efforts in this direction will serve to boost innovation processes occurring at the regional level. 'A new transregional foresight model for the regional innovation strategies (RIS)' (Fortransris) is a project that recognised various parameters weighing down project-based interregional cooperation schemes. Among these is lack of access to practical tools that could spur the development of transregional innovation strategies for open and collaborative frameworks. The EU-funded project developed and tested a new model of transregional foresight aiming to improve regional decision-making and extend the potential of common regional innovation strategies (RISs). project activities built on the experiences and needs of the five EU participating regions by developing an approach that supported individual foresight exercises at the regional level, for further elaboration and transfer of results to a joint transregional level. Partners tested the approach in the area of technology and knowledge transfer (TKT), given the high innovation benefits that can be gained by cooperating within and across regions. the Fortransris project defined transregional TKT as a process whereby scientific and technical knowledge can be economically exploited. This is realised through complex interactions and cooperation between the generating source, a firm and other players. relevant aspects related to the development of transregional scenarios were identified based on evaluation results, input from regional analyses and certain visions regarding the future outlook of knowledge transfer for each region. fortransris conducted a series of scenario validation workshops, elaborating on the 'stormy' and 'sunny' scenarios, where the latter is the most optimal framework for TKT. Feasibility and other issues were discussed at these events and relevance for specific regions was evaluated. Results and outcomes were then used to develop a roadmap displaying how each region could improve on its innovation system - primarily through knowledge exchange and transregional cooperation. the Fortransris project developed a methodology guide for the benefit of other regions and offered a framework within which regional decision-makers can render regional innovation systems and policies more viable and competitive.
