Internet-based and mobile technologies for regions in the net economy

Final Report Summary - IREGIONS (Internet-based and mobile technologies for regions in the net economy)

Executive Summary:
The penetration of the Internet to virtually all spheres of life leads to a new form of society and of economy: the Net Society and Net Economy. New needs and challenges have emerged for research, business and industry: The iRegions project addressed those challenges within the ICT-based clusters: CyberForum (Germany), Kista Science City (Sweden), and Tartu ICT cluster (Estonia).
The concept of iRegions relies on following cornerstones:
• Living Labs will enable the iRegions to become pilot regions for the creation of new ser-vices, technologies and business models of the Net economy.
• Leading edge projects will lead to the development of innovations and the creation of new markets.
• Ecosystems for growth will favour strong interaction between research, business and local authorities for the benefit of companies’ growth and economic development.
iRegions Joint Action Plan
The partners of the iRegions project recognize the importance of continuing the work started within the framework of the iRegions project. Accordingly, the partners now intend to go ahead with a Joint Action Plan (JAP) as set out in the project. Resources will be made available by all the partners for:
• assessing the Living Labs platforms that are to be open to the iRegions partners, and inviting the iRegions partners to our Living Labs platforms under development;
• discussing the implementation and learning from exchanges around leading edge areas;
• and assisting and supporting the implementation of relevant elements of ecosystems for growth
as defined by the JAP. The JAP contains the following actions:
• Living Labs
o Set-up of an LBS Living Lab in Tartu - mLab
o Set-up of a Usability Lab “Usebox” by CyberForum
o Set-up of a house of Living Labs at FZI (Karlsruhe)
o Set-up of retail Living Lab at Kista Science City
• Leading edge areas
o Cloud computing – integrated SaaS platform
o Set-up of an intelligent transport systems testing environment at Kista
• Ecosystems for growth
o Set-up of a campus-based high-tech business incubator by CyberForum
o Set-up of a ICT business incubation programme in Tartu
o Major Development for STING as an ICT Incubator
o Internationalisation of the SaaS4KMU network
o Smart Business IT platform

In addition, given that the partnership was indeed a very productive one, the partners also plan to pursue internationalisation activities, including identifying possibilities for further projects.
iRegions recommendations
The iRegions partners have also identified and explored the conditions (good practices, lessons learned) for cooperation models within the knowledge triangle of research, business and policy in order to design, test and validate the components that will contribute to the creation of adequate environments within the clusters to foster the development of companies: such environment are called ecosystems for growth, to be understood as the “value” and the interaction of the success factors for cluster development. The following components for ecosystems of growth have been explored in detail:
• Networking partnerships,
• Living Labs as a tool for boosting the innovation capability of clusters,
• Business incubators as a tool for boosting the entrepreneurialism of clusters.
The lessons learned from the iRegions project with respect to those three components have been formulated in a Cluster Management Guide, which is available from the project website (www.iregions.de).

Project Context and Objectives:
An increasing use of the Internet worldwide and its penetration to virtually all spheres of life leads to a new form of society and of economy: the Net Society and Net Economy. New needs and challenges have emerged for research, business and industry: To be effective and to produce applicable results, research has to be tested, at least as a proof-of concept, in large scale environments. The increasing complexity of the innovation process requires a closer interaction between research and business. Businesses need to constantly adapt their products, skills and business models; they need therefore different partners and experts from diverse fields, able to work in interdisciplinary fields. New mobile technologies can overcome the digital divide and increase cultural, social and political participation and understanding. However, security and privacy issues need to be carefully handled due to potential deployment for surveillance and control purposes.
The iRegions project addressed those challenges by providing a strategy aiming at maximising the benefits of research infrastructures for regional economic development within the following ICT-based clusters: CyberForum (Germany), Kista Science City (Sweden), and Tartu ICT cluster (Estonia).
The concept relies on following cornerstones:
• Living Labs will enable the iRegions to become pilot regions for the creation of new ser-vices, technologies and business models of the Net economy. A tight networking will allow strengthening the innovative capacity and efficiency of all involved parties.
• Leading edge projects will lead to the development of pioneering innovations and the creation of new markets.
• Ecosystems for growth will favour strong interaction between research, business and local authorities for the benefit of companies’ growth and economic development.
iRegions will deliver a Joint Action Plan for the implementation of the solutions newly designed by the partners.

Living Labs and the open innovation paradigm
Knowledge-based clusters can provide an environment fostering open innovation especially by improving the cooperation environment of companies and making cooperation more effective.
For successful cooperation, companies have to find efficient ways to access and to transfer knowledge across organisational boarders. Especially for SMEs it is challenging to open the innovation process towards other firms because of the organisational complexity of the cooperation process and cultural differences between firms. Geographical concentration of firms interconnected by being part of the same industry, the same supply chain or by a common resource or market, by a similar philosophy, by facing similar opportunities and challenges or by collaboration with the same university or research institution in so-called clusters facilitates cooperation (Porter, 1998). The local proximity and commonalities help to build up social networks and trust which is necessary for the exchange of informal knowledge. In the words of the European Cluster Memorandum clusters “enable open innovation, the creation and refinement of new ideas in networks of cooperating companies and institutions. And they lower the barriers for transforming new ideas into businesses and capturing the benefits of globalisation” .
To overcome barriers for open innovation it is necessary to exploit the full synergies between public administrations, regional development agencies, industry and citizens. Clusters and regions can support open innovation by providing thematic collaborative clusters with:
• A collaborative platform to increase the network and to facilitate collaboration,
• Structured communities allowing access to complementary expertise in an optimised financially viable manner,
• By preparing the ground of successful collaboration (e.g. by training, implementing functional networks, etc...).
In conclusion, cooperation within a cluster makes the innovation process more effective and efficient because firms can:
• Gain access to complementary resources,
• Benefit from spillover effects,
• Enhance their innovative potential by exchanging informal knowledge, and
• Reduce the risk of R&D projects by risk sharing.2

Having discussed the benefits of conceptually connecting open innovation with clusters, a practical approach to realise open innovation with a regional dimension shall be presented: the Living Lab. “A Living Lab is both a methodology for User Driven Innovation and the organizations that primarily use it. Living Lab is about experimentation and co-creation with real users in real life environments, where users together with researchers, firms and public institutions look together for new solutions, new products, new services or new business models” (www.openlivinglabs.eu) The approach focuses on the participation of citizens, users, consumers in the development and evaluation at all stages of the R&D-process. As such Living Labs represent useful intermediaries in the innovation process, structuring and providing governance to user participation.

Within the three clusters, the following Living Labs have been identified:
• Ambient Assisted Living Living Lab at FZI (http://aal.fzi.de)
• Smart Park & Ride Living Lab in Kista Science City (www.smartinfart.se) and
• Future Living Lab for Location-Based Services to be set-up in the Tartu area.
While the AAL Living Lab and the Smart Park & Ride Living Lab represent the most mature among the (selected) cases, the Living Lab on Location-Based-Services in Tartu are yet to be defined and implemented.
The partners will follow closely the development of the Living Labs selected and work on identifying commonalities to try to define possible business models enabling sustainability for each one. In the case of Tartu, a knowledge and expertise transfer shall take place, in order to support a fast set-up of the new LBS Living Lab. The commonalities identified shall also provide the basis for a Joint Action Plan; the partners will explore options for a sharing / upscaling of activities at consortium level and how this can be sustained beyond the project

Leading edge projects
The partners have agreed to focus on the topic of mobile and location based services and to build their work on existing strategic agendas at European level, in order to ensure a future up scaling and transferability of the projects results to further partners.
Both research and exploitation challenges have been identified. The next steps shall consist, on the basis of the generic Research and Exploitation Agenda agreed upon by the three clusters as a common framework within the project iRegions, in the definition of specific activities to be performed among the three clusters and their actors.
This will lead to the definition of a Joint Research and Exploitation Agenda, indicating activities and partners involved. In parallel with the Joint Research and Exploitation Agenda, the partners will design the cooperation and governance models that shall govern its future implementation.

Ecosystems for growth
The iRegions partner will explore the conditions (good practices, roadblocks) for cooperation models within the knowledge triangle of research, business and policy in order to design, test and validate the components that will contribute to the creation of adequate environments within the clusters to foster the development of companies: such environment are called ecosystems for growth. According to the priorities of the partners and building on a SWOT exercise performed within the three clusters, it was decided to focus within the project on exploring the different aspects of the success factor Networking Partnership.
The partners are currently exploring the dynamics of existing networks within the three clusters in order to identify how full collaboration as displayed in figure 2 can be fostered and which framework conditions shall be secured at cluster level.
The iRegions partners have explored different networking partnerships bringing together industry and research/higher education in order to derive models and recommendations for the clusters.

Project Results:
I. iRegions Joint Action Plan
The partners of the iRegions project, CyberForum in Karlsruhe, Germany, Kista Science City in Kista/Stockholm, Sweden, and the Baltic Innovation Agency in Tartu, Estonia recognize the importance of continuing the work started within the framework of the iRegions project, running from 2009-2011. Accordingly, the partners now intend to go ahead with a Joint Action Plan as set out in the project.
Resources will be made available by all the partners for:
• assessing the LL platforms that are to be open to the iRegions partners, and inviting the iRegions partners to our LL platforms under development;
• discussing the implementation and learning from exchanges around leading edge areas;
• and assisting and supporting other partners’ implementation of relevant elements of ecosystems for growth
as defined by the Joint Action Plan.
In addition, given that the partnership was indeed a very productive one, the partners also plan to pursue internationalisation activities, including identifying possibilities for further projects.
The Joint Action Plan encompasses the following measures:
(1) Living Labs
o Set-up of an LBS Living Lab in Tartu - mLab
o Set-up of a Usability Lab “Usebox” by CyberForum
o Set-up of a house of Living Labs at FZI (Karlsruhe)
o Set-up of retail Living Lab at Kista Science City
(2) Leading edge areas
o Cloud computing – integrated SaaS platform
o Set-up of an intelligent transport systems testing environment at Kista
(3) Ecosystems for growth
o Set-up of a campus-based high-tech business incubator by CyberForum
o Set-up of a ICT business incubation programme in Tartu
o Major Development for STING as an ICT Incubator
o Internationalisation of the SaaS4KMU network
o Smart Business IT platform

In the following, a description of each of the actions above is given:
(1) Living Labs
The three clusters acknowledge the opportunities provided by Living Labs for the generation and testing of new products, services and business models in the ICT field and especially mobile and Internet-based technologies. The three clusters actively support the development of suitable Living Labs at the regional level according to their specific scientific and business environments.
The three clusters agree to maintain a continuous exchange in the area of the development of both existing and new Living Labs related to mobile and Internet-based technologies. This exchange shall be coordinated at the level of the cluster management organisations and involve relevant research and business partners. A central part of this collaboration is a continuous exchange of information and experience as well as a mutual access to the Living Labs as far as possible.
More specifically, the three clusters will collaborate within the framework of the following actions to be implemented after the end of the iRegions project:
a) Set-up of an LBS Living Lab in Tartu - mLab
The central idea behind the new mobile services and LBS living lab to be established in Tartu is to create an environment, where the development of new mobile and location-based services can be carried out in co-operation with end-users. The focus is mainly on testing prototypes and piloting services before wider entry to the market, but some activities in the earlier phases of the product development cycle are also planned.
The initiative is driven by the Tartu mCluster companies. Other core partners include the Tartu City government, the University of Tartu (Laboratory for Mobility Studies) and Tartu Science Park. Tartu City and some mCluster companies have good co-operation experience from the m-Tartu collaboration platform, which focused on developing new m-services for citizens of Tartu in public-private partnership. The stakeholders believe that the new LL can both build on the successes of this platform and also reinvigorate it with fresh ideas and new projects.
Other important partners will be EMT, the largest mobile network operator in Estonia, ICT competence centers in Tartu and Tallinn and strategic international partners (foreign LLs). All mobile or LBS companies in Estonia have a possibility to become partners in the LL project.
The new living lab would be a good test platform for new m-Tartu services as well as services developed for other local governments in Estonia or for the whole Estonian market. Services designed for foreign markets could also benefit from receiving initial feedback from Estonian users. However, as user characteristics can be very different in different markets, co-operation with foreign living labs is also an important goal to enable final testing and development of export services in the target markets.
As the new LL is closely linked to a cluster, it is also meant to contribute to cluster competitiveness, leveraging the benefits from co-operation. Along these lines, the companies expect that some services developed by them jointly or separately are somewhat complementary in their nature and therefore can be can be grouped together and sold as packages both in domestic and foreign markets. The LL would also benefit all parties involved in terms of marketing, enabling showcasing new solutions and helping companies to reach clients through joint efforts. The local government would also benefit as the LL supports the image of an innovative city.
Users
The end-users that are involved in the LL activities are one of the most important elements of a LL. For the Tartu mobile and LBS services LL, the entire city of Tartu is the primary test bed. The focus is on three wide groups: a) the citizens of Tartu; b) local government officials; c) visitors of the city (tourists). On the other hand, the LL does not limit itself only to Tartu, and some activities and projects need to cover Estonia as a whole.
Alongside B2C services testing, B2B is also very important – therefore the LL aims at creating a pool of companies that can be called in for piloting some services (e.g. for a service to be tested at all levels of the same organization). In getting access to public sector organizations and user groups (e.g. schools, hospitals, police), i.e. to contribute to the development of B2C type of services, Tartu City Government is a key partner and mediator.
Feedback would be collected from the users mainly via questionnaires, tests and further web-based methods; some more advanced methods could also be added gradually. The LL stakeholders expect to engage mainly users who are internally motivated (by the opportunity to participate in working out something new, exciting, and/or something important to the person). To keep users involved, a loyalty program would be designed for long term testers (e.g. gift vouchers that will be received in after having gathered a number of LL points based on the level of activity in the LL, the quality of feedback, etc). From time to time, some lottery campaigns, competitions etc. could also be used to create more awareness and engage new users.
Resources
The LL would operate mostly as a web-based platform, where users could get access to services tested and give feedback. This makes it easier to engage users from various geographical locations and another benefit is that there is no need for large investments into physical infrastructure. The partners already have the necessary software and hardware in place, and it is expected that (most) users are equipped with internet connection and a mobile device.
The financial resources for operating the LL would come from companies using LL services to test their solutions; core partners would also provide small annual funding. EU project funding could be used especially in the development stage of LL platform and services - and also for larger development projects.
In order to make this LL a success, one of the key factors is having a strong, enthusiastic and skilled co-ordinator running the LL. It is also crucial to create a continuous project flow to ensure the needed level of financing and keep users interested and involved. mCluster companies cannot produce such a project flow themselves and therefore it is important to get other companies interested in the LL services as well. It is very important that all core partners and other stakeholders can see the benefits for their organisation and that all the right partners are involved to achieve the expected results.
The total budget for 3 years is estimated at 250 000 EUR:
• Staff costs – 100.000 EUR
• External expertise – 55.000 EUR (includes project management/administration, financial management, legal services, as well as some small-scale studies)
• Marketing and events – 75.000 EUR (local events and study visits, active and passive marketing)
• Web-based testing environment – 10.000 EUR
• Other costs – 10.000 EUR (prizes for users, etc)
b) Set-up of a Usability Lab “Usebox” by CyberForum
The rationale of the concept is to provide SMEs with a cost effective way of performing user-centric tests for websites, software applications and mobile apps in a public area and foster quicker market readiness of their products and services.
The UseBox is meant to be a mobile testing environment for Internet-based or mobile applications by end users, a so-called Usability Lab. It will be equipped with video cameras, microphones, helmet cameras for mobile apps, mouse-tracking, eye-tracking and a test working desk in order to enable testing of a large set of applications. The UseBox will also be equipped with the necessary software – which has to be developed - and evaluation methods in order to exploit the testing results for the UseBox and optimize its design. The first prototype shall be positioned in the lobby of the ZKM, a place where as many potential users as possible can be found. In principle, the UseBox will be developed so as to be an autonomous testing environment which can be placed anywhere where a WLAN and connection and a power point are available.
The initial partners for the pilot implementation at CyberForum are companies (CAS, raumobil), Research organizations (University for Applied Sciences Karlsruhe, ZKM) and CyberForum.
In a next step, the access to the UseBox is expected to be opened to further partners, including the cluster actors at Kista and Tartu ICT cluster. The partners at Kista Science City and Tartu ICT cluster will be involved in the evaluation of the pilot. A systematic methodological exchange with the LBS mobile Living Lab at Tartu ICT cluster will take place. The international partners will be associated in the development of a competence center Usability Lab in 2014.
The resources for the period 2012 – 2014 are estimated at over 180 man months for all partners plus the costs for the UseBox and its technical features; thus the planned budget is approximately 1 million euros. A proposal for funding has been submitted to German authorities, the implementation timeline here above builds on a positive answer.
c) Set-up of a house of Living Labs at FZI (Karlsruhe)
Motivated by the experiences with the FZI Living Lab AAL, FZI decided to install additional living labs that promote the development, test and efficient usage of ICT: the FZI living lab mobile-IT/satellite navigation and the FZI living lab automotive. Until now, these living labs focused on their specific application domains or use cases that were investigated separately from a real environment. The applicability of technologies in other application domains or cross-linking application domains via ICT was not considered.
In order to overcome these deficits, FZI has started to establish an innovative research environment– the FZI House of Living labs (HoLL). The concept of the HoLL is the creation of different, interconnected living labs in the same building, that focus on different aspects of tomorrow’s living and working environment: „Smart Automation“, „Smart Home“, „Smart Energy“, „Smart Mobility“ and „Smart Control“. The main research topics -- sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, improvement of individual comfort and intelligent production – will be examined in the House of Living Labs in an integrated approach.
The environment to be installed will enable researchers and partners from industry and society to create an exchange beyond application boundaries, thus fostering integrative and interdisciplinary ICT solutions for different application domains. In this context, the HoLL will act as “technological pacemaker” for the development of society, linking different players and technologies in an interdisciplinary way, resulting in a multiplication of their innovation potential.
In addition to that, the HoLL-environment will allow domain-specific experts to network. Both spatially and through the use of a central infrastructure, different application areas will be closely interlinked. In the living labs, research and development on specific topics will be conducted, and at the interfaces of technologies and applications innovations can be identified and implemented much faster. These interfaces inside the HoLL-concept will be investigated in detail.
For the period 2012 – 2014 it is estimated that approx. 20 research scientists will cooperate intensively. This amounts to an estimated effort of approx. 300 PMs (personnel cost approx. 3 million EUR), the funding of the research and development work will be embedded into research projects. For novel use-cases and scenarios dedicated project proposals will be compiled.
d) Set-up of retail LL at Kista Science City
Discussions are ongoing, after the results of the iRegions project, about an idea for a new retail-based Living Lab in Kista. There are many companies that supply ICT-based products and services to the retail industry, as well as others supplying complementary knowledge such as consumer insight. The interest for a new retail network is being investigated, in particular after the presentations to the PICOM retail cluster and the results of the Living Labs Global conference, in which both Kista and Karlsruhe participated. The network is being assessed using the experience gained in the Leading Edge Areas part of the iRegions project where dynamic networks were studied. In addition, experience with the harmonization cube within the iRegions project provides a good framework for assessing the necessary stages and priorities of setting up a new Living Lab. Common to all Living Labs is the need for a dialogue with the consumer and Kista is currently looking at new ways to implement ideas on how to do this. Both Kista Science City and the Kista Galleria shopping mall are very interested in seeing this through.
One challenge is to integrate the needs of a large number of companies, research institutes, and municipal actors into one format that will, in the long-run, be self-financing. Another challenge is to find the right balance for the long-term governance. This means that not only must the needs of potential financers be met, but commitment to the long-term goals of the Living Lab must be ensured. In this regard, lessons learned from the analysis of how Kista’s incubator STING was set up will be useful here. Thus, the discussions for a new Living Lab in Kista will benefit from the iRegions project from the standpoint of all three of the tools analysed for optimising research infrastructure, i.e. Living Labs, ecosystems for growth, and leading-edge areas.
As this idea is still in the concept development and feasibility evaluation phase, no resources have formally been allocated to this project yet. The feasibility study will include an assessment of the financing possibilities. This action could not be fully planned during the course of the project and shall be developed further as of 2012/2013.

(2) Leading edge areas
In the course of discussing the topics the partners decided to concentrate their efforts on the topic with the greatest learning and transfer potential and a high strategic importance to all regions; mobile and location-based services. The partners agreed that the complexity of setting up a trans-regional cooperation model would be better mastered if the three clusters could focus on one single and common topic. Working on two or three different topics would bring a high risk of reducing the trans-regional part, thus missing the objectives of the project.
Considering the topics of relevance to the three clusters, the partners came to the conclusion that mobile and location based services provides a content with a scope wide enough for encompassing a large amount of the three areas explored and focussed enough to generate significant opportunities for collaboration among the three clusters and their members.
More specifically, the three clusters will collaborate within the framework of the following actions to be implemented after ending of the iRegions project:
a) Cloud computing – integrated SaaS platform
Many companies within the clusters are developing SaaS solutions; these can be new solutions or migration of existing solutions into cloud-based solutions. However, significant and lasting market penetration can currently only be achieved – especially for SMEs – if existing or new specific SaaS solutions can interact with other solutions or can be integrated seamlessly into complex solution, which cover complex client requirements and possibly address the whole value chain of the users.
Developing such an environment is out of reach of single SMEs; it requires interdisciplinarity and significant research efforts. International collaboration is especially relevant not only so as to ensure the availability of the necessary competences but especially to foster a rapid market uptake and generate significant European and global market opportunities for the participating companies.
The idea, initiated by the members of the SaaS4KMU Special Interest Group at CyberForum, shall be further developed and implement jointly by members of the three clusters and further partners as of necessary and relevant.
This action could not be fully planned during the course of the project and shall be developed further as of 2012 / 2013.
b) Set-up of an intelligent transport systems testing environment at Kista (mobility management / mobile services)
The Greater Stockholm County is an expanding region and it is very important that the transport system is reliable, safe and secure. At present, large parts of the transport system are used to full capacity and some vital road links have reached their maximum capacity. The regional public transport network is well developed but at the same time is also heavily used. Long distance and commuter rail traffic through the city is limited by a bottleneck where only two rail tracks are running in a north-south direction. Even the cycling network is in part congested.
There is intense development in Kista at present. Building sites and the re-routing of traffic will form part of the picture for some time: the reconstruction of the E18 and its junctions is on-going; a light railway is in the planning stages; and if the Stockholm by-pass (Förbifart Stockholm) is given the full go-ahead, traffic will be affected until 2022 as plans are today. However, new investment and reconstruction work is not expected to solve all the problems. Existing systems and facilities need to be maintained, and the existing road network needs to be utilised in a more efficient way.
New technical services including, for instance, traffic information is one way of making sure that transport users are able to make best possible use of the transport system in the current situation, as well as take into account environmental and safety aspects. Intelligent Transport System (ITS)-based travel services are predicted to become important success factors for the up-coming extended periods of rebuilding.
Kista and the commuter routes to and from Kista constitute a suitable test site, partly for technical reasons concerning traffic – as its vehicle queues are among the worst in the Stockholm region, and in addition the area is experiencing strong growth and is affected by substantial infrastructure projects.
In addition, Kista is suitable from an economic perspective as Kista is one of Sweden’s fastest growing business areas, with more than 8,500 companies, universities and research institutions working together. This is strengthened by the fact that Kista Science City in 2010 signed an agreement with Trafikverket (the Swedish Traffic Administration) regarding collaboration within the ITS area – including pilot trials.
Competence within ITS is high in Kista Science City and ongoing discussions regarding pilot projects involve Ericsson, Saab Security, IBM, and other companies. For example, SaabSecurity is developing the website www.trafiken.nu in collaboration with SL, the City of Stockholm, Traffic Administration Office (Trafikkontoret) and Trafikverket. This is highly relevant to the development of a test bed.
During 2011 Ericsson will move 3,000 employees from south of Stockholm to Kista. IBM is making a similar move, relocating its office in central Stockholm to Kista. Apart from Ericsson and Saab, several other business players are interested in pilot projects, among them other companies within the ICT sector as well as building firms and property companies.
Prior to the reconstruction of the E18 between Hjulsta and Kista, a preliminary Mobility Management study has been carried out. The study indicated that there is opportunity for Mobility Management to help reduce congestion during the reconstruction work and several different measures were put forward. The measures include both companies and households. Examples of suggested services are subsidised public transport passes, teleworking, car-sharing and travel advice.
The means of travel that should be included in the Kista ITS Testsite are public transport, cars, walking and cycling with a main focus on commuting to and from work, this including telepresence and company and social policies for supporting such work. Journeys encompassing several different means of travel as well as smooth transfers between them should be encouraged. Travel services should also include intelligent support for out of city parking, parking at work and car share schemes as well as the booking of and payment for such services.
One important factor for success is that new information services are launched in parallel with improvements to the available transport services, the infrastructure and/or services associated with this. New offers need to take existing and up-coming developments into account. In other words, the aim is for travel services – not just information. In order for this to be successful, pilot projects need to collaborate among others with Trafikverket, City of Stockholm and SL regarding infrastructure, available transport and associated services. For example, new services for booking and payment of out of city parking should preferably be introduced at the same time as the supply of such parking places is improved.
Another important success factor is that new services include economic and other incentives that promote smart choices. This is accomplished through Mobility Management efforts being integrated in new ITS services. Modern ITS technology allows incentives to be offered per journey and to consider an actual response. For example, lower rates for out-of-city parking for those who travel to the right destination at the right time.
Pilot tests need to include new innovative formats for travel information – particularly with regard to journey planning and disruption information. In order to actively reach users with individualised disruption information – which is relevant to them at a particular moment – users need to be ”recruited” to the pilot trials and then encouraged to register a mobile phone number or contact details of some other mobile device on which they can be contacted. In order to achieve further precision, users should also be encouraged to plan their journeys (or their journey patterns) within the service in order to be able to subscribe to targeted travel and disruption information. Such information will improve even further if positioning services are used.
The ITS test bed currently being planned will benefit from the iRegions project as elements of the harmonization cube can be used in the planning phase of the project. The possibility to open the test bed to the iRegions partners is also being discussed as a way to prolong the collaboration after the iRegions project is ended.
The resources for the period 2012 – 2014 include 1.5 persons per year for 2012-2013 and 2 persons per year in 2014. The City of Stockholm, the Swedish traffic administration and the Electrum partners have agreed to support the project both in-kind and in-cash, the exact budget is not yet determined.

(3) Ecosystems for growth
The three iRegions partners recognise the value of developing sound ecosystems for the growth of the clusters and the member businesses and the potential for cross-cluster collaboration. In this context they have agreed to work jointly in the following areas.
a) Set-up of a campus-based high-tech business incubator by CyberForum
Building on the experiences gained from Kista Science City’s incubator, STING, as well as the research performed on technology-based incubators within the iRegions project, CyberForum is currently planning the set-up of a campus-based hightech business incubator in Karlsruhe on the basis of the STING model. This will include an entrepreneurial academy opened to the partners in Kista Science City and Tartu.
The training plan for entrepreneurs encompasses the following modules over a period of 6 to 8 months.
The budget for the first three years (2012 – 2014) is estimated at 180 000 EUR. A funding of up to 80% from the Land Baden-Württemberg is expected.
b) Set-up of a ICT business incubation programme in Tartu
As a result of iRegions project activities Tartu Mobile and Location Based Services (mCluster) Cluster and Tartu Science Park have come to an agreement to launch an ICT incubator at Tartu Science Park, which will use the existing physical infrastructure of Tartu Science Park and will be put into life using the business development and ICT expertise and competences of Tartu mCluster and its member companies. The ICT incubator is expected to focus on new start-ups and spin-off companies in the ICT area.
The ICT incubator will be launched in 2 phases. First from September 2011 to February 2012 a preparatory phase will be implemented starting with an open call for finding suitable ICT business ideas. The preparatory phase was actually opened in the end of August 2011 with a deadline at the end of September 2011 and as of mid September, 7 business ideas were submitted (link to the competition:
http://www.teaduspark.ee/en/news_eng/251/autumn-round-of-business-idea-competition-tiger-2011-starts-now)
Once the business ideas are submitted the analysis of the business ideas and assessment of their market potential will be carried out jointly by mCluster and Tartu Science Park representatives. Then preparation of a draft business plan or alternatively development of existing business plan will take place, which will be done jointly by the entrepreneur and incubation team. After this has been successfully completed an action plan for the incubation period will be prepared and agreed upon by the entrepreneur and incubation team outlining the main goals and results to be achieved during the incubation period as well as defining the appropriate indicators how to measure success. Finally a training programme will be organized for all those entrepreneurs who have gotten their incubation action plan approved, the training will consist of various introductory lectures about product development and innovation processes, sales and marketing, financing, human resources, IPR and technology transfer, etc.
The second implementation phase of Tartu ICT Incubator will start in March 2012 for the selected business ideas and will consist of starting the physical incubation period in the premises of Tartu Science Park and of benefiting from further business and technology development services offered by Tartu Science Park and Tartu mCluster. The physical incubation means renting of furnished office space in the incubator, including communications and computer services, telephone communications, postal services, Internet connection, etc. The rent of office space will also contain such general office services as receptionist services, maintenance and cleaning, copying services, access to meeting rooms and security services, etc.
However, more importantly, in addition to the physical infrastructure, Tartu ICT incubator will also offer relevant business development services, including consultation in developing business plans and conducting market research and cost-benefit analysis, management-related advice and consultations, human resources related development services, financial advisory services providing assistance in finding starting capital and other sources of funding. In addition through Enterprise Europe Network the tenants in ICT incubator will have access to partner search databases for both finding cooperation and business partners (BCD database) as well as finding technology transfer opportunities (BBS database).
The Tartu ICT incubator will get methodological support from Kista Science City and CyberForum. Cooperation among the three cluster incubators will be implemented with respect to coaching methodologies, contacts between companies, etc. Tenants will have access to the online offer of CyberForum’s entrepreneurial academy. This implementation will therefore contribute to a continued collaboration between the iRegions partners well after the end of the actual iRegions project.
The total budget for the first three years is estimated at 150 000 EUR:
• Staff costs: 100 000 EUR
• Office and overhead costs: 25 000 EUR
• Marketing and events: 15 000 EUR (local events, active and passive marketing)
• Other costs: 10 000 EUR
c) Major Development for STING as an ICT Incubator
Much work has been done by the Electrum Foundation, Kista Science City and STING to plan and execute the next step for STING as an ICT incubator. The major development involves growing STING into a multi-node regional incubator (rather than a cluster-centered incubator) with several outposts in those municipalities generating a sufficient number of new potential companies to justify a STING subsidiary. The plans for being able to do this have been discussed at length by both the Electrum Foundation Board and with the relevant triple helix actors in Kista and Stockholm. Rather than starting new incubators from scratch, the experience and know-how that works for STING will now be put to good use on an even wider level than before.
The resources will mainly be in STING Capital. This includes applications being made for STING Capital 2, where the plan is to raise a total 20-25 M€ within 6 years. Several investment partners are already identified and a close link to the STING business angel network exists.
d) Internationalisation of the SaaS4KMU network
During the initial phase of the SaaS4KMU network, the first exchanges and matching meetings were organised between cluster members in Karlsruhe, Kista Science City and Tartu (11 May 2011 in Stockholm, 23 May 2011 in Karlsruhe). The development of new web-based applications and services is expected to be a growth driver for all three clusters.
The experiences gained with the SaaS4KMU networking partnership provide a platform for the extension of the partnership towards further European and international partners (the new Interreg Central Lab, www.centralivinglab.eu project is a first significant step towards internationalisation). The three clusters are especially interested to focus their cluster approach on “PPPP - public private people partnerships” addressing a range of domains such as mobility, health, economy, energy, government, etc. and plan therefore to implement a joint initiative under the heading of Smart Cities (Smart Economy, Smart Governance, Smart Mobility, Smart Energy & Environment, Smart People, Smart Health, …).
The initiative shall be coordinated by CyberForum, with a strong involvement of the SaaS4KMU network manager. Both Kista Science City and BIA shall act as local coordinators and foster the involvement of research institutions and companies out of their clusters. The partners will also look for additional European and international partners (clusters).
The resources necessary at the first stage are limited to the human resources necessary for the set-up and management of the networking partnership. They are estimated at about one full-time equivalent person per year. This workload will be shared among CyberForum (50%), Kista Science City (30%) and Baltic Innovation Agency (20%) during the period October 2011 – December 2012.
e) “Smart Business” IT Platform
The iRegions partners have recognised the need to increase synergy effects among the businesses in the clusters, which has proven to be difficult in the course of the project. They have therefore designed the “smart business” IT-based platform action, which aims at providing software solution providers with a joint platform for collaboration. The platform should also be opened to research organisations in order to foster collaboration with the companies and help those gaining competitive advantages through the use of innovative research results in new applications and services.
The following three strategic objectives have been defined for the action:
i. Objective 1: Increasing the competitiveness of the companies
Innovative companies shall be able to share efficiently information and find cooperation partners. Cultural or legal barriers for cooperation shall be reduced. Research organizations shall be part of this process and contribute to the innovation capability of software providers.
Measure 1: Coordination of existing networks
A central part of the initiative is to ensure a broad involvement of relevant actors in the initiative. In Baden-Württemberg, the 3 regions Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Stuttgart do already have strong local networks, which will build the basis for the initiative. In a next step it is planned to foster the emergence of further local networks in Baden-Württemberg and to integrate them in the initiative as they grow.
A further aspect of coordination consists in the representation of the network in the dialogue with the public administration and policy makers (lobbying) as well as for public relations.
Measure 2: Networking among existing solution providers
The networking among solution providers will be organized through different channels. CyberForum shall build a so-called House of Enterprise Software, which will function as a hub for solution providers and market place for ideas and competences. A portal for calls for tenders shall be established, where users will be able to reach a wide community of providers.
Measure 3: Developing a support offer to companies
Different services shall contribute to increase the competitiveness of businesses:
• The transfer of experience from successful companies towards young businesses shall enable a faster learning curve for entrepreneurs. Case studies on different aspects of business development shall foster the dissemination of knowledge from larger towards small companies.
• Reports on new technologies, processes and methodologies shall foster the transfer of R&D results towards businesses. Dedicated workshops shall also be organised.
• Developing trend scenarios is quite important for companies willing to bring innovative solutions to the market but – due to lack of personnel and financial resources – difficult to perform for SMEs. The central management of the initiative can take over this task and disseminate the results within the network.
• Internationalisation is also an important aspect for the competitiveness of businesses. The initiative will act as internationalisation platform for the businesses in Baden-Württemberg, e.g. by providing mentors able to support the companies in their internationalisation or organising specific business trips.
Measure 4: Setting-up of collaborative projects
Collaborative projects are a motor for innovation. In general the members will get support with the identification of adequate collaboration partners. In case of public funded research and innovation projects, the members of the initiative will get support from the central management in terms of set-up of the partnership but also for the writing of the proposal. It is expected that industrial projects.

ii. Objective 2: Fast uptake of innovation by users
The major task hereto is to generate a dense network of innovation promoters and users, so as to foster the adoption of innovative methods and products in different industries and markets. Early Adopters should be provided the means to trigger significant impact.
Measure 5: Set-up of new Living Labs
New Living Labs shall be established according to the needs of the members, existing ones shall be better used in order to foster the transfer of technologies and new solutions to the market. This technology transfer will be supported by best practices and user feedbacks. Report on new technologies, processes and methodologies shall be delivered.
Measure 6: Road shows
The joint participation to virtual and real road shows as well as fairs is meant to strengthen the sales of the cluster actors. Potential users get the opportunity to learn about new IT-trends and integrate them into their business models and processes. Especially virtual road shows shall enable service or solution providers to address cost-efficiently a large and interested audience. One of the possibilities is to take part in the LLGlobal events for innovation in cities.
Measure 7: Special Interest Groups and communities
Special Interest Groups (SIG) are thematically focused working groups with a high level of information exchange. Such SIG already exist, in the framework of the initiatives new ones shall be generated. It is especially intended to create a SIG for IT-users in order to foster the exchange of experience among users. Synergies are expected with respect to the development and marketing of innovative solutions.
Similarly different thematic communities or working groups will be coordinated by the central management of the initiative.
Measure 8: House of Competence platform
Through the close interconnection of solution providers in the areas Enterprise software, Internet of Things and Internet of the Services, CyberForum will develop over time a large expertise in those topics and turn into a “House of Competence” in those domains.

iii. Objective 3: Qualified human resources
A high innovation pace depends on the availability of human resources. This requires instruments for vocational training and motivation of young people for studies and jobs related to IT area. To reach this objective it is essential to bundle the needs and efforts of companies and training / education organisations.
Measure 9: Meta-Academy
The Meta-Academy shall bundle the vocational training offer from different training organisations addressing the needs of the members of the IT community and especially the members of the smart business IT platform:
• Members can use the training offer (“passive” role),
• Members can offer trainings through the platform (“active” role),
• Members can contribute to generate new training offers (“initiator” role).
It is not the aim of the Meta-Academy to host additional training staff or training locations; its aims are to coordinate efficiently and further develop the existing offer.
For the implementation of the initiative, a half position will de funded at 100% by the Land of Baden-Württemberg. Collaborative projects to be implemented with companies will be funded up to 50%. The total budget for the initiative amounts to 5 million EUR over four years. The initial funding of 100% for the staff will decrease over time. After four years, it is expected that the initiative be self-financed by its members through membership fees, workshop and training fees, and payment for the use of services in general.

II. iRegions recommendations
The iRegions partners have identified and explored the conditions (good practices, lessons learned) for cooperation models within the knowledge triangle of research, business and policy in order to design, test and validate the components that will contribute to the creation of adequate environments within the clusters to foster the development of companies: such environment are called ecosystems for growth, to be understood as the “value” and the interaction of the success factors for cluster development within each cluster considered.
According to the priorities of the three clusters involved in the iRegions project, the following components for ecosystems of growth have been explored in detail:
• Networking partnerships,
• Living Labs as a tool for boosting the innovation capability of clusters,
• Business incubators as a tool for boosting the entrepreneurialism of clusters.
The lessons learned from the iRegions project with respect to those three components have been formulated in a Cluster Management Guide. This summary provides an overview of those lessons.

(1) Setting-up efficient networking partnerships
The analysis of the networking partnerships in Kista Science City and within the CyberForum cluster have provided following recommendations for the launch and management of successful networking partnerships from the perspective of the cluster management:
• Lessons learned from Kista for the bottom-up approach when surveying companies with respect to their interests in networking partnerships:
o Have an information package ready about your cluster before you survey companies so you can send it immediately to those who ask for it.
o Matchmaking events should distinguish between regional and international matchmaking
o Decide whether you want to look at number of employees or number of active people working with the company, this is especially important for SMEs as many have a limited number of employees but can have access to a larger group of people helping with different aspects of the company, either via incubation or specialized networks.
o Link the surveys from year to year: repeat questions for those issues you want to track, use follow-up questions for those issues you want to develop.
• Lessons learned from Kista for the top-down approach:
o Understanding what function needs to be fulfilled and linking that to the value network members get out of the network and in turn to how a network needs to be organized to deliver that value can be very useful in setting up new networks.
o Even though the results are qualitative, the survey indicates that the research infrastructure in the region has helped companies to develop and has boosted their growth. However, in Kista, no network is organized around this theme. This means that surveying companies helped to identify opportunities for new networks and a value based approach for setting up the new networks will increase their chance of success.
• Lessons learned from the SaaS4KMU network:
o The successful set-up and development of a networking partnership aiming at developing products and services requires dedicated network management. The neutral position of the cluster management organisation is therefore relevant. However, the cluster management organisation needs to balance its dedication towards subgroups of members and the development of the whole membership.
o A financial commitment from the companies fosters active participation and increases the pressure for measurable outcomes.
Sustainability needs to be tackled from scratch as companies will only be ready to pay for real value. It takes time to build within the networking partnership the conditions for such value to become clear and measurable.

(2) Setting up a science/technology-based business incubator
a) Experiences from Stockholm Innovation and Growth
Stockholm Innovation and Growth, STING, a business incubator that itself grew from the Kista Innovation and Growth incubator, is an example of a successful and expanding business incubator. The analysis done within the iRegions project identifies the key elements of decision-making, experience gathering, implementation and execution of the business incubator with an emphasis on those that can be learned from and applied elsewhere. This report (see Annexes) will be also made available on the Kista website. Reported here is a summary of the main points of the analysis.
The relevant key elements that were highlighted within the harmonization cube the iRegions project used for analyzing Living Labs were used here as much as possible to make the information accessible. In particular, issues of service creation, infrastructure, governance, and financing were highlighted in the interviews. Scalability and sustainability were also addressed, as this incubator has itself seen innovation of service and growth of scope and practice.
The results of the interviews highlighted the fact that some key networks and networking partnerships were in fact a result of how the incubator was set up. Investigating other successful incubators, visiting them, and learning from their experience, in fact became an enabler for STING to have within its network of contacts members from other successful incubators in the world. In today’s business climate, networks are an essential part of enabling growth for new companies, having an impact from project/start-up selection to who a business puts in place to lead the new companies at different stages to accessing financing in different forms.
The report concludes with recommendations to iRegions partners about the elements of incubation services that can be implemented in other regions and advice about what to consider when setting up an incubator. The report extracts lessons learned from the process in Kista and Stockholm.
Much work has been done by the Electrum Foundation, Kista Science City and STING to plan and execute the next step for STING as an ICT incubator. The major development involves growing STING into a multi-node regional incubator (rather than a cluster-centered incubator) with several outposts in those municipalities generating a sufficient number of new potential companies to justify a STING subsidiary. The plans for being able to do this have been discussed at length by both the Electrum Foundation Board and with the relevant triple helix actors in Kista and Stockholm. Rather than starting new incubators from scratch, the experience and know-how that works for STING will now be put to good use on an even wider level than before.
b) Recommendations
Following the study of the experiences in the project – the experiences in the cluster regions as well as the analysis of science and technology-based incubators in general - the following recommendations were identified from the work performed in Kista on its incubator:
• Involve all major stakeholders in the discussion in the beginning so that when it comes to decision-making time, everyone is on board and support (financial, administrative, and political) is more easily granted.
• Make sure the major stakeholders know this is a long-term activity. The more you agree to in the beginning the better (cost, target for number of incubated companies per year, goals for the incubator, what business areas to focus on, etc…)
• Make sure you know what kind of company you want to incubate and have strict criteria for who you let in. Factors from personal characteristics of the potential CEO to the business model must be evaluated systematically and thoroughly.
• Decide in advance how long it will take to incubate a company and make sure your partners know this and agree with it.
• Encourage companies to think about going global from the start, exporting should not come as an afterthought.
• Think about what trends impact you. Today, design and creative industries seem to be what everyone wants. Should existing incubators that work well be redirected according to new trends? Should new incubators take them into account?
Do you follow the trends or do you follow what works?
• Flexibility and growth plans must somehow be built in to the incubator, and as financing becomes harder to come by, the choice of direction is not always obvious.
• Consider how you can promote and increase education effort in business leadership and entrepreneurship, preferably right from the start of the incubator process.

(3) Living Labs – Harmonization Cube
A practical approach to realise open innovation with a regional dimension are the Living Labs. Being a “research methodology for sensing, validating and refining complex solutions in real life contexts” Living Labs were identified by the iRegions project as a potential source of contribution from the research infrastructure of ICT clusters to economic development. Although objectives and formats for Living Labs vary greatly, there is an agreement that all should be user-centered with an active participation of users within the entire development process. Most also agree that a triple-helix based consortium is needed to anchor both the work and future implementations. Usually, Living Labs build upon or create a technology platform geared to answer the needs of users in a particular situation.
At the same time, Living Labs have received increasing attention on a European level. The rising popularity is embodied by the continuously growing European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). However, in spite of the spread of the label Living Labs there is still a lack of a uniform definition as well as generalised findings on the practical functioning of Living Labs. Methods and tools used within Living Labs still vary widely and hamper easy transfer of lessons on the support, stimulation and acceleration of the innovation process through Living Labs. A number of Living Labs are defined with such general objectives (improving existing networks, developing frameworks for user innovation, etc.) that it is difficult to assess what is being done, how success will be measured, and what lessons can be carried over to other Living Lab initiatives. At the current stage of concept development, the Living Lab community and interested practitioners also still lack guidance for setting up and sustaining Living Labs.
Following a detailed literature review in the field of Living Labs, the so-called Harmonization Cube was identified as the most adequate methodological framework. The Harmonization Cube was developed with the collaboration of the European Network of Living Labs ENoLL in response of the need of a standardised reference methodology for Living Labs. While the Harmonization Cube is a complex construction in itself, mirroring the complexity of existing Living Labs, it still represents a simplification and systematic structuring tool. Advantages of the use of the Harmonization cube include the “bridging possibility” between existing Living Labs, i.e. to learn from each other, benchmark the validation of user behaviour studies, exchange best practices, and interconnect the Living Labs”.

a) Harmonization Cube
The Harmonization Cube can be understood as a descriptive framework for Living Labs, capturing key elements defining a Living Lab, different development phases in the Living Lab life cycle and common aspects of the Living Lab.
The typifying key elements of a Living Lab include:
• User Involvement
• Service Creation (idea development and testing process)
• Infrastructure (services and technologies for analysing data within a Living Lab)
• Governance (organisation of a Living Lab and the interaction between its members)
• Innovation outcomes (results of a Living Lab)
• Methods and tools (data collection and processing tools )
Those key elements can be related to three phases in the lifecycle of a Living Lab consisting of:
• Set-up
• Sustainability (mid- to long-term operation of the Living Lab)
• Scalability (expansion phase of established Living Lab)
For each of the essential elements of the Living Lab specific issues arise dubbed as:
• Organisational,
• Technological and
• Contextual issues.
While the organisational and technological issues rather relate to specifics dealt with inside a Living Lab, contextual issues represent external aspects beyond the Living Lab that have to be considered. An illustration of these issues will follow along with the more detailed description of the typifying elements below.
The key elements correspond to the six sides of the Harmonisation Cube. The columns of each side of the cube represent the organisational, contextual and technological issues of the Living Lab. The rows on each side of the cube have been chosen to distinguish the three development phases of a Living Lab, i.e. the setup, sustainability, and scalability phases.

b) Lessons learned - The Harmonization Cube in practice
The Harmonization Cube provides a descriptive framework for capturing key elements defining a Living Lab in its development phases. In order to be used in practice it needs to be translated into a concrete data collection and processing tool.
The guideline provides for each of the six key elements of a Living Lab an indication of the major organisational, technological and contextual issues to be addressed in each development phase of a Living Lab.
Based on these guidelines, the Harmonization Cube was used by the iRegions partners for the definition of suitable areas and content for new Living Labs, the definition of their specifications and their business models. In addition to the mutual methodological support with the development of new Living Lab initiatives within the project, the three iRegions clusters also planned to open up their Living Labs as far as possible to each others’ members for testing new products and services. Understanding the issues involved in different stages of Living Labs helps to better formulate objectives and plan for the lifecycle a Living Lab is expected to go through. Contrasting existing Living Labs allowed the iRegions partners to highlight critical issues in each region and discuss solutions implemented by other partners. The iRegions partners successfully used the Harmonization Cube as a common framework for discussing and developing Living Labs.

Potential Impact:
I. Potential impact
(1) Socio-economic impact
The potential socio-economic impact relates directly to the implementation of the Joint Action Plan as described in this report. As iRegions is a policy-oriented project, impacts will only be measurable within three to five years.

(2) Societal implications
The clusters involved in the iRegions project have a strong triple helix representation and work especially closely together with their local city administration. In the course of the project this cooperation has been increased in order for all partners to contribute to increase the role of the cities as innovation environments but also increase user / citizen involvement.
The role of cities in the realisation of the Digital Agenda
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, 2007) more than half of the world’s population is living in towns and cities since 2008. It is expected that by 2030 this number will increase to almost 5 billion or 70% of the world’s population. In Europe 80% of people already live and work in cities. Between now and 2050 the global population is expected to increase from 6.9 billion to more than 9 billion, with 98%of this growth happening in cities and in the developing and emerging world (c.f. World Business Council for Sustainable Development). Cities and their administrations are in charge of housing, healthcare, energy, education and mobility infrastructures, infrastructures for water and energy. They deal with the necessity to increase resource efficiency, reduce emissions, and improve care services for ageing populations as well as services for active ageing. There is no doubt that the use of ICT plays a major role in solving those challenges and will continue to do so in the future.
The potential role of cities as innovation environments is increasingly recognised. The stimulation of ICT-based applications enhancing citizens’ quality of life is now becoming a key priority for urban policy makers. Cities can contribute to empower people and businesses to innovate, learn and create.
Challenges for user and public involvement
For the most part, a deep understanding of technology per se and of specific solutions to particular problems exists, i.e. the technology push side of product and service innovation is strong. However, a lack of vision and understanding of what the digital economy is really about and what users really want can hinder further technological advances because of slow or non-existent uptake, i.e. the market pull side of product and service innovation is too weak.
The iRegions partners believe that there is a need for a top-down shift in the mindset. Like app users, citizens need to be involved at the early stages of society planning, not just choosing between, or voting for, pre-selected options. To achieve this, for the development of technical solutions must be a result of collaboration between community leaders, regional governments, citizens, academia, students, professors, researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs, small and big businesses.
To fully utilise these openings for innovative happenings, cities and clusters need to create meeting areas (e.g. Living Labs) for the development and visualisation of requirements, and to develop easily accessible and user-friendly interfaces to enable everyone to get involved in the processes of defining, finding and comparing different solutions. At present, as a market for governance systems and solutions, the city appears from the outside to be quite closed. When in need of new solutions, whether for energy, water or traffic management, waste handling or a more open and democratic stable election process, cities approach local companies and networks of experts, hence creating local solutions to solve local problems.
On a global scale, there are thousands of 'smart cities' and 'intelligent communities' that are starting to understand the need for a more open process and for harmonized solutions. These have started to set benchmarks for other municipalities to learn from. This brings hope for the future, especially for small companies trying to bring their product to the global market. Presently, small companies successful on a local market are often disappointed when they approach a wider market only to find that it is fragmented and difficult to access. Another perspective to take into account when trying to understand the market for different solutions is the different timeframes that the responsible stakeholders act in. Finally, add to that the economic risks of these creations, and the complexity of building a functioning city infrastructure starts to emerge. In addition, involving users implies that a wide variety of people need to be included, and the best way of doing this is not always evident.
Challenges for creating new markets for digital solutions
Technology developments in e.g. cloud computing and the emerging Internet of Things open new possibilities for services. These technologies can ensure economies of scale in, for example, infrastructure, standardisation of applications, and solutions for software as a service, platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Digital technologies have the potential to decrease development costs of new solutions for cities while accelerating their learning curve.1 However, technology push is still dominant. As consumers are becoming more aware of them, the demand for e-services is increasing but there is still a gap between software applications and the provision of e-services in terms of sustainability and financial viability. Many applications are so-called “vertical ICT solutions” which are not interoperable with other applications and lead to the emergence of an unsustainable diversity of solutions and highly fragmented markets. The positive impact of available “smart city solutions” on European cities has not yet been demonstrated, nor have the necessary funding mechanisms and business models for their sustainability been developed.
Cities must also address the “enrichment of the physical space and infrastructures” with embedded systems, cyber physical systems, smart devices, sensors and the creation of applications enabling data collection and processing, web-based collaboration. This is necessary to make sense of the incredible amount of data and information available , and to find clever ways to extract value for interactive and innovative digital solutions.
Cities need to initiate “large-scale participatory innovation processes for the creation or further development of applications that will run and improve every sector of activity and infrastructure. All city economic activities and utilities can be seen as innovation ecosystems in which citizens and organisations participate in the development, supply and consumption of goods and services.”1
Opening new markets for applications and services constitutes a priority. Innovation ecosystems have to be defined in terms of applications, services, and financial engineering. Partnerships and clear cooperation strategies among main stakeholders are needed in order to share research and innovation resources such as experimental technology platforms, emerging ICT tools, methodologies and know-how, and user communities for experimentation on future technologies and e-service applications.
With the implementation of the Joint Action Plan as well as the further development of the linkages between clusters and cities – a follow-up project proposal has been developed, addressing this aspect – the iRegions partner expect to generate a wide societal impact on the mid to long-term.

II. Main dissemination activities
The iRegions partners have used the following channels for dissemination of the project activities and results:
• Website,
• Newsletters,
• Project conferences co-organised by the project partners,
• Presentations at further events and conferences.
In the following, the activities undertaken during the lifetime of the project are presented. Finally an outlook on the future dissemination activities is given.

(1) Website
The website (www.iregions.de) went online by September 2009 after review of the design and content by the partners. It contains public information on the project.

(2) Newsletters
In total 10 newsletters have been published on the iRegions website (www.iregions.de).
An overview with a short description of the published newsletters is shown in the table below. The newsletters can be downloaded from the website.
1 December 2009 Trendkongress Workshop on Living Labs
2 March 2010 Week of Innovative Regions in Europe
3 June 2010 iRegions Partners Strengthened
4 August 2010 iRegions Announcement for boosting ecosystems for business growth will also take place in conjunction to this visit.
5 January 2011 iRegions Awarded 1st Prize for linking Living Labs, Clusters, and Regional Development
6 February 2011 iRegions presented at next TCI conference in Tallinn, Estonia, 30-31 March 2011
7 February 2011 Meet potential clients and win a chance to pilot your technology!
8 May 2011 Living Labs promote innovative solutions
9 July 2011 iRegions project showcased at WIRE
10 December 2011 iRegions Joint Action Plan: Intentions beyond the iRegions project

(3) Project conferences co-organised by the project partners
As a central part of the dissemination activities, the iRegions partners hold dedicated sessions to project-relevant topics within conferences organised by the participating clusters.
Each of the clusters organised one major event addressing project-relevant issues (i.e. directly related to the key work packages of the project) and included a sessions (workshop or panel discussion) directly related to the project activities.
The following events were selected:
• “iRegions – Workshop” on Living Labs during the Trendkongress, Karlsruhe, 20.11.2009
Focus: Living Labs
• Conference on Inspiring Clusters in the Beginning of the New Decade, Tallinn, 30-31.03.2011
Focus: Ecosystems for Growth
• Living Labs Panel Debate during the Living Labs Global Summit on Service Innovation in Cities and Award Ceremony 2011
Focus: Service Innovation in Cities, mobile services, intelligent transport systems (WP5)

III. Exploitation of results
As part of the Regions of Knowledge initiative, the iRegions project was not a research project in the most common sense. It was not the aim of the project to develop products or services as such but rather to define innovation policy or support measures to be implemented in the project regions.
Those measures build on the knowledge developed during the project and have been summarised in the Joint Action Plan agreed upon by the partners:
(1) Living Labs
o Set-up of an LBS Living Lab in Tartu - mLab
o Set-up of a Usability Lab “Usebox” by CyberForum
o Set-up of a house of Living Labs at FZI (Karlsruhe)
o Set-up of retail Living Lab at Kista Science City
(2) Leading edge areas
o Cloud computing – integrated SaaS platform
o Set-up of an intelligent transport systems testing environment at Kista
(3) Ecosystems for growth
o Set-up of a campus-based high-tech business incubator by CyberForum
o Set-up of a ICT business incubation programme in Tartu
o Major Development for STING as an ICT Incubator
o Internationalisation of the SaaS4KMU network
o Smart Business IT platform

List of Websites:
Website: www.iregions.de

Beneficiaries / Contacts
CyberForum:
David Hermanns, hermanns@cyberforum.de
Tamara Högler, hoegler@cyberforum.de
Luc Schmerber, l.schmerber@inno-group.com

Kista Science City:
Åke Lindström, Ake.lindstrom@kista.com
Marie-Claude Béland, marieclaude.beland@innventia.com

Baltic Innovation Agency:
Rene Tõnnisson, rene@bia.ee

Final Report Summary - IREGIONS (Internet-based and mobile technologies for regions in the net economy)

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