News

IRE conference: Enhancing interaction in the regional innovation system
This conference, which will integrate experiences from the IRE Working Groups, will take place in Rennes on 5-6 June 2008.

What are the most crucial issues that regional policy makers in Europe need to address to boost innovation and competitiveness? During the past two years, 45 IRE member regions divided into three Working Groups have analysed what new developments are needed in regional innovation policy. They have worked on identifying good practices and developing “hands-on” guides for the benefit of all regions. At this IRE conference, policy-makers and practitioners will be able to exchange experiences on the challenges they are facing – in particular those related to encouraging interaction and collaboration within, and beyond, their own regions.

In today’s world, where knowledge is available from a variety of sources, neither companies nor regions can afford to rely exclusively on their own resources for innovation. They need to interact with other people and organisations and draw on other fields of expertise to exploit their full innovation potential. Many regions have discovered that being a host to useful resources such as companies, research institutes and innovation support organisations is not enough – a climate with networking, exchange and trust between the various actors is necessary.

The upcoming conference will look at ways to intensify the interaction between players in the regional innovation system. It will build on outcomes from the Working Groups bringing together IRE member regions with a focus on regional innovation systems, clusters as innovation drivers, and knowledge transfer between the research and business sectors. The event will explore policy challenges related to the globalisation of regional clusters and innovation systems, and the need for closer cooperation between the public and the private sector to tackle this. Three parallel workshops organised by the Working Groups will allow participants to discuss the theme they are interested in, in more detail:

• “Promoting dynamic interaction in the regional innovation system”.
• “Quantitative approaches for governance of clusters and innovation systems”
• “Making knowledge transfer services more efficient”

INTERREG IVB Baltic Sea region call for proposals
Fostering innovation is one of the main priorities of the Baltic Sea region's open call for proposals.

The INTERREG IVB programme for the Baltic Sea area covers the EU member states Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and northern parts of Germany, as well as the neighbouring countries of Norway and the north-west regions of Russia and Belarus. The strategic objective of the programme is to make the Baltic Sea region an attractive place to invest, work and live in. The programme is especially focused on the preparation of investments and actions aimed at improving the economic potential of the region. At the same time, the goal is to minimise the existing differences in the socio-economic development between the western and the eastern parts of the region as well as to resolve issues of common concern for the countries around the Baltic Sea Region. The programme has four main priorities:

Priority 1: Fostering innovation across the Baltic Sea region
Priority 2: Improving internal and external accessibility
Priority 3: Managing the Baltic Sea as a common resource
Priority 4: Promoting attractive and competitive cities and regions

The current call for proposals is open until 30 May 2008. Further information is available via the link below.

EC report on entrepreneurship in higher education
The European Commission has published a report on how to increase entrepreneurship in higher education.

In order to achieve the objectives of the Lisbon strategy, Europe needs to stimulate the entrepreneurial mindsets of young people, encourage innovative business start-ups, and foster a culture that is friendlier to entrepreneurship and to the growth of small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The important role of education in promoting more entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours is now widely recognised.

The expert group report 'Entrepreneurship in higher education, especially within non-business studies' includes recommendations for how to improve and expand teaching on entrepreneurship in higher education institutions. It also includes good examples of successful entrepreneurship training programmes from various European countries.