ERRIN

🚀 On Wednesday, ERRIN was at the launch of the awaited report of the Expert Group on the interim evaluation of #HorizonEU together with the R&I community. In a full room, and with some 1000 online participants, the Expert Group chaired by Manuel Heitor Manuel Heitor handed their report to Commissioner Iliana Ivanova.   Looking towards the future of EU research and innovation, the report outlines 12 recommendations in the spirit of its title: Act, Align, Accelerate – Research, Technology and Innovation to boost European competitiveness (read the document here: https://lnkd.in/dY2_pReT).   The document proposes four spheres of action to deliver European added value: 🔹 Promote and strengthen competitive excellence 🔹 Foster industrial competitiveness 🔹 Promote societal transformation through research and innovation 🔹 Strenghten European R&I ecosystem   ERRIN welcomes the report and is pleased to see that R&I #ecosystems are high on the agenda. As highlighted also by the Draghi report, Europe’s innovation ecosystem is fragmented. The fragmentation is, however, also due to the fact that innovation is largely #placebased, which needs to be addressed. Ensuring well-connected place-based R&I ecosystems will be essential for guaranteeing Europe’s #competitiveness.   As mentioned during the launch event, the report may serve as a starting point for many discussions over the next months. We look forward to continuing the conversation as ERRIN is currently working on a paper on R&I ecosystems in its FP10 paper series. More to follow soon!   ℹ Read ERRIN's #FP10 papers so far: https://lnkd.in/dyuyprjh

Exciting progress at the #Pathways2Resilience Kick Off Meeting in the Hague 🌍   Over the past two days, Pathways2Resilience partners and the 40 selected regions came together for the first time since the official announcement in September 2024. This gathering was a pivotal moment, providing an excellent opportunity for our partners and the #P2RSelectedRegions to connect, network, and collaborate on this transformative journey.   🌿During the event, the #P2RSelectedRegions received an overview of the theoretical and methodological approach behind #Pathways2Resilience. We also dove deep into what our 18-month program entails, offering interactive sessions that clarified expectations and showcased how our tools and services can advance each region’s climate resilience goals.   ✨We’re thrilled to have met the regions and to hear first-hand about their unique challenges and aspirations for the future. This marks the beginning of an exciting journey towards climate resilience, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the incredible collaboration so far.   A big thank you to all our partners and regions for making this a success!   Stay tuned by following us here for the latest updates🌱   #ClimateResilience #Collaboration #P2RSelectedRegions #TransformationalChange  Climate-KIC ERRIN ICLEI Europe Athens University of Economics and Business Regions4 LGI Sustainable Innovation TECNALIA Research & Innovation Deltares IIED Europe Paul Watkiss Associates PPMI Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB) Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

📣 The Week of Innovative Regions in Europe (WIRE) conference is coming on 13-14 November 2024 in Budapest! The upcoming XIII edition of the event will focus on “Regions as catalysts of European RDI competitiveness - the role of regions in the reduction of fragmentation in the European innovation ecosystem”. This year’s WIRE is organised by the NRDIO - National Research Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) in Budapest under the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union #HU24EU, with #ERRIN as part of the Steering Committee. It will bring together key players from the innovation and education ecosystems to enhance science-based #competitiveness. The focus will be on knowledge-driven regional development and ways to optimise resource allocation for this purpose, exploring various EU initiatives, concepts and tools, such as #SmartSpecialisation, #I3Instrument, the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) pilot, and #RegionalInnovationValleys. Speakers will evaluate the effectiveness of these tools, present successful practices, and highlight synergies between European and regional funding schemes. The event will have a strong emphasis on access to excellence, aligning with ERRIN's network priority of widening and deepening engagement in R&I. ERRIN's Director Pirita Lindholm and Ewa Chomicz alongside many #ERRINmembers will speak during the event together with European Commission and European Committee of the Regions representatives, and other colleagues from various expert groups, regions and organisations. 💡 The WIRE conference serves as the main European policy forum dedicated to innovation and regional development. It’s the place to be for policymakers, public authorities, knowledge centres and enterprises to discuss research and innovation practices, challenges and opportunities across the European regions, with a direct view of the current and future EU funding opportunities. We hope to see you there! The full programme is now available and registration to participate is open until Friday 8 November 12:00 CET. 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dMeSkEjY

🛜 Last week, during the #EURegionsWeek, the Living in EU Digital Assembly and the networking reception brought together regional, local and national representatives to discuss the future of digital transformation in Europe.    🤝 This event, organised by ERRIN, was the result of a fruitful collaboration between all Living-in.EU partners, event co-chairs from Oulun kaupunki - City of Oulu and Ajuntament de Sant Boi de Llobregat, the European Committee of the Regions, European Commission DG CONNECT, as well as ERRIN’s #ICTWG and many #ERRINmembers.    💡 ERRIN is proud of its members' contributions and commitment to shaping the future of digital transformation in their territories. ERRIN’s projects RESIST Project and NetZeroCitiesEU also showcased existing scalable solutions to support the Twin Transition.    ▶ Building on their experience and expertise, our policy work to shape the future of #research and #innovation in Europe, we shared three main reflections:  🔸 Continuous support for multi-level governance  🔹 Addressing fragmentation in local digital innovation ecosystems  🔸 Strengthening the framework for collaboration between European digital innovation ecosystems    📖 Read our full reflection on the Assembly and discover our policy messages: https://lnkd.in/dYt7Qqyb   👏 A special thanks to all our speakers and new signatories: Markku Markkula, Mirja Vehkaperä, Arnis Gulbis, Sophie Valdenaire-Ratto, Pirita Lindholm, Martin Bailey, André Sobczak, Lluïsa Moret i Sabidó, Martin Rasker, Montse Canas Moldón, Guido Rink, Willemien Meeuwissen, Richard Geelof, Homme De Jong, Mario Fava, Jussi Rämet, Marianne Poelman, Faouzi Achbar

🙌 Following all the exciting discussions over the #EURegionsWeek, we were delighted to wrap it up last Friday with an ERRIN Intro Coffee for new #ERRINmembers and colleagues from across Europe. ERRIN Intro Coffee meetings serve as an intro to our community for new network members and new staff in our members’ offices. With many colleagues from the regions present in Brussels this week as well, it was an excellent occasion to connect and exchange face-to-face to discuss R&I policy engagement and funding opportunities. 🎉 On this occasion, we are delighted to give a warm welcome to Xjenza Malta – a new member that joined ERRIN this summer – great to have you with us! The event was a chance to offer a brief presentation of ERRIN, our services and online tools, and enjoy informal networking between members and colleagues from the network Secretariat. Ewa Chomicz talked about ERRIN’s mission and range of activities, including 15 Working Groups and Task Forces, Silvia Ghiretti gave an overview of our work on #EUMissions, and Gianpiero Petruzziello explained how we facilitate project development, discussing how members can get involved and take advantage. We also shared recent developments in member services, including the new membership pages, member directory and flyers for prospective members, regional stakeholders and actors interested in our Project Development Tool (learn more here: https://lnkd.in/dPNAVzqH). We finished the meeting with a networking coffee to get to know each other, exchange ideas, opportunities and questions. It was a chance to connect and discover points of common interest to grant inspiration and a starting point for further cooperation and engagement in specific ERRIN activities. Thank you everyone for joining! ➡️ If your organisation is interested in exploring possible ERRIN membership, learn more here https://lnkd.in/dVzEbMgm or reach out to Ewa Chomicz for a chat.

🚀 A full house at the #EURegionsWeek session unveiling the Regional Innovation Valleys for Circular Economy: Rural Regions as Key Players in the Transition! 🌿Moderated by ERRIN's Head of Projects Astrid Hannes, two of ERRIN's members, Region Dalarna of Region Värmland and Innlandet fylkeskommune of Oslo Region European Office, highlighted the pivotal role of rural regions in speeding up the circular transition. 🌍 Erik Evestam, Värmland Region and Per-Gunnar Sveen, Innlandet County Council, demonstrated their strong political commitment to the RIVs, explaining how their regional greening industrial ambitions made them embark on an exciting five-year Regional Innovation Valley Journey. 🔑 Key Takeaways: 🔸 Place-based innovation is the key to significant local impact, addressing the unique needs of rural regions. Eva Lundin, who is leading Dalarna Region (Sweden) in the ECIV RIV, explained why innovating regional governance is key in rural areas for speeding up the greening of their traditional industries like forestry, steel and energy. The RIVs capitalise on decades of regional innovation efforts and enhance interregional collaboration across value chains in Europe. 🔹 Regional ecosystems foster collaboration and trust among stakeholders to overcome challenges like small critical mass and proximity of actors. Stian Lundvall Berg also highlighted the importance of Innlandet County being well connected with other EU Regions to open markets for their regional nature-based products and, vice-versa, to bring innovative solutions from other regions EU-regions to their industrial infrastructures. 🔸Both Eva and Stian praised ERRIN for playing a critical matchmaking role in finding the right partners at a very early stage in the RIV consortium-building process. 🔹 RIV's EU Funding is critical for unlocking interregional innovation, though the 50% co-funding challenge remains. This highlights the need for timely and better coordination between Horizon Europe, ERDF, national and other regional funding to make synergetic funding work. 🔸 The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) provides project development assistance for scaling local and regional circular systemic solutions and making them investment-ready.

🌍 As part of the #EURegionsWeek, the RESIST Project hosted the event "Twin Transition for Climate Change Resilience in Climate Vulnerable EU Regions", where key strategies and innovative solutions were shared to boost climate resilience across Europe. Through the RESIST Project ERRIN supports regions and their ecosystem of actors in applying a mission-oriented approach towards adaptation to climate change. With the engagement of the quintuple helix stakeholders, the regions are collectively developing and implementing innovative climate resilience solutions when searching for ways to tackle their specific climate, environment and socio-economic challenges. 💚 🌱 Some highlights from the event: 👉 Vilija Balionyte-Merle shared the crucial role RESIST plays in regional climate adaptation. 👉 Shinju Park from Catalonia discussed how RESIST is supporting civil protection and emergency management. 👉 Jorge Brito from Central Portugal showcased efforts in wildfire resilience. 👉 Minna Kivimäki from Southwest Finland presented sustainable stormwater management solutions. 👉 Christian Billund Dehlbæk from Central Denmark highlighted contributions to regional climate resilience. 👉 Katarzyna Pydzinska Azevedo presented the upcoming RESIST activities. Thank you to all the participants for your dedication to shaping a resilient future! 🌍✨ #ClimateResilience #EURegionsWeek #EWRC2024 #ERRINinProjects

📢 ERRIN is excited to announce that 20 more cities have been awarded the label of the EU Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities for their outstanding commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2030! On 8 October, the European Commission unveiled this latest group, bringing the total number of cities holding this prestigious label to 53. The first 10 cities received their labels in October 2023, followed by another 23 in March 2024. The EU Mission Label is a significant recognition of these cities' comprehensive strategies and serves as a vital gateway to both public and private funding. With this label, they gain access to the Climate City Capital Hub, an international financing resource launched in June 2024, which emphasises engagement with private capital. Furthermore, these cities qualify for a €2 billion lending envelope from the European Investment Bank. ✨ ERRIN is pleased to note that 8 of the awarded cities are located in #ERRINmember regions: Aachen, Münster (Germany), Bologna, Bergamo, Milan, Prato (Italy), Gothenburg (Sweden), Suceava (Romania). Learn more and discover all the cities that received the label here: https://lnkd.in/egvUjSUF #MissionCities

🔎 Last week's ERRIN's Science and Education for Society WG organised a meeting to explore how #KnowledgeValorisation can drive flourishing regional innovation ecosystems forward. 💡 European Commission's Laurent Obresse presented the codes of practice for #CitizenEngagement and industry-academia co-creation, guiding regional innovation ecosystems for creating the enabling environments for co-creation with all quadruple helix stakeholders, while ensuring a strong citizen engagement in all stages of the process. 👨🎓Generalitat de Catalunya's Jordi Alba explained how the Catalan Government's Programme for Industrial Doctorates has leveraged industrial innovation in their region since 2012, while Lidia Núñez shared how Brainport Eindhoven and Eindhoven University of Technology are currently capitalising knowledge production and valorisation for piloting the concept of ERA-hubs with other regions in the COOPERATE project. 🤝 Furthermore, the methodology for #cocreation tested in ERRIN's project MOSAIC was praised for its inclusive quadruple helix bottom-up approach. ERRIN's Gianpiero Petruzziello presented how stakeholder engagement in the co-creation process of the city of Milan, supported by Fondazione Giannino Bassetti, Stickydot, and ERRIN, led to innovative solutions for the #AirQuality challenge, being one of the objectives in Milan's #ClimateCityContract in the #MissionCities.  Check the MOSAIC Cookbook to learn more about the methodology: https://lnkd.in/gcR-7chg 📣 Universities or university-based incubators, knowledge Transfer Organisations, Technology Transfer Office and other academia-based intermediaries can apply until 30 October to the COOPERATE Call for testing out the inter- and intra-regional collaboration methods with the support of COOPERATE project: https://lnkd.in/dvYwX-5g

✨ ERRIN's New European Bauhaus Task Force is happy to share their Input Document to support the implementation of impactful actions under the #NewEuropeanBauhaus Facility. ✍️ The document "Shaping the NEB Facility" captures the needs and aspirations of regional ecosystems and emphasises their key challenges and expectations regarding the NEB Facility. ERRIN is committed to ensuring that these valuable insights can drive real change in the NEB! In a nutshell: 🌰 The three destinations should address R&I Gaps and support community engagement, skills development and multidisciplinary approaches. 🌰 Funding strategies should be optimised and sources diversified to better support local actors and SMEs, ensuring impactful projects on the ground. 🌰Synergies and alignment with other EU Initiatives, policies and programmes should be strengthened in the roll-out component. We look forward to continuing the dialogue with the European Commission and our partners to ensure that regional needs are at the forefront of the NEB’s success! Have a look at the full document 👉 https://lnkd.in/ecatySKG Thanks to all the #ERRINmembers who have contributed and to our NEB Task Force leaders Giulia Chiarel, Vesna Caminades, Eleanor Kenny, Hilu Kangas-Ranta, Annamaria Cosattini and the members of the secretariat Francesca Pozzebon & Agnieszka Wieczorek Jetha for leading the work! #R&I #NEB #NewEuropeanBauhaus #RegionalInnovation #Sustainability #ResearchAndInnovation #Collaboration #ERRIN