EUSDR Priority Area 8 “Competitiveness” – activities related to research and innovation
In March 2015, Danube-INCO.NET finished and a Report on the coordination of EUSDR priority areas and establishment of working groups. To improve the policy dialogue within the EU Strategy for the Danube Region a general overview of the diverse but partly interconnected thematic areas covered in the strategy is a useful and necessary starting point. We now present on our portal the different priority areas from the Danube-INCO.NET point of view, i.e. with a focus on research and innovation.
PA8 Competitiveness
The main aim of this priority area is to support the competitiveness of enterprises, including cluster development. This includes issues like innovation and technology transfer, transnational cluster cooperation, vocational training and entrepreneurial learning, cooperation of business organizations, environment technology and energy efficiency as well as competitiveness in rural and urban areas of the Danube region. Danube-INCO.NET is closely connected to this PA, fostering also cooperation and exchange between SME, academia and the public sector. Relevant working groups include the following: Clusters of Excellence, Environmental Technologies and Energy Efficiency, Innovation and Technology Transfer. PA8 also commissioned a scientific study on the “Socio-Economic Assessment of the Danube Region: State of the Region, Challenges and Strategy Development”.
Within the seven thematic Working Groups of this PA all of them have pronounced link to research and/ or innovation[1]:
WG Innovation and Technology Transfer[2] deals with issues of developing institutional infrastructure for technology transfer, human resources development, elaborating innovation strategies for regions and establishing a financial system to stimulate demand for technology transfer. Three specific Danube Transfer Centres[3] have already been-set up in Romania, Slovakia and Serbia in this respect.
WG Cluster Excellence aims at improving the knowledge on the cluster landscape in the Danube Region for example via identifying and connecting cluster managers. It has established a cluster platform named “DanuClus” that provides an international networking space as well strategic discussions on advancing the cooperation of R&I related Clusters.
WG Vocational Training picks up on the challenge of providing adequately skilled people to the local economies of the Danube Region including the challenges of trans-border mobility of the work force. The pilot project currently implemented is to reform the Hungarian and Slovakian Vocational Education and Training System with German and Austrian know-how. It is envisaged to use the results of the pilot project for a best practice model for other countries.
WG Co-operation of Business Organizations aims at linking relevant business support agencies, cluster organizations, chambers of commerce or industry associations in the Danube Region. They work on developing business service support related to cross border research & development cooperation, trade and internationalization as well as financial instruments and programmes for companies such as setting up a cross-border Revolving Innovation Funds.
WG Entrepreneurial Learning´s main activity is the implementation of the SEECEL (South East Europe Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning http://www.seecel.hr/ ) project as best practice example in the area of entrepreneurial learning in order to boost regional cooperation in the field of human resources in order to guarantee sustainable growth.
WG – Competitiveness in Rural and Urban Areas also features a project – SIRA- “Smart and Innovative Rural Areas” as a main tool for implementation. As an institutional platform for research, innovation and technology transfer SIRA want to bridge science and economy and instate 3-5 Centres of Competence to professionalize rural innovation knowledge system. Fostering innovative and competitive rural development as well as economic diversification and business development especially for SMEs are further goals of the project.
WG – Environmental Technologies and Energy Efficiency sees its main task in identifying, showcasing and supporting projects, as well as helping potential project partners in the field of environmental technology and energy efficiency in their cooperation efforts. Close links have been established to the Environmental Technology Network Danube Region (ETNDR).
More information on PA8: http://groupspaces.com/Competitiveness/
[1] For a detailed description of last year´s progress see “PA 8 of the EUSDR: Report June 2014” at http://www.danube-region.eu/about/key-documents or the description of the different Working Group activities at http://groupspaces.com/Competitiveness/pages/pa-8-subgroups
[2] All description of the Working Groups activities are based on their presentations on the PA8 Website http://groupspaces.com/Competitiveness/
