Upping the innovation potential of Europe’s regions

A major conference on innovation and regional development is being held in Budapest next week under the Hungarian EU presidency amid growing recognition that the European Union’s diverse regions can play a pivotal role in boosting Europe’s competitiveness.

The Week of Innovative Regions in Europe (WIRE) conference, taking place on 13-14 November, will see some of Europe’s leading research and innovation specialists, along with policymakers, explore ways to strengthen collaboration and resources for EU regions.

The event is happening at a time of mounting concern that Europe is trailing its global competitors when it comes to investing in cutting-edge research and technology. Among other topics, the WIRE discussions will look at how the 10th framework programme (FP10), the successor to the €93.5-billion Horizon Europe, could be deployed to support pioneering region-based research and innovation when FP10 comes into effect in 2028.

“This is very much an important event because it is bringing together the different stakeholders working on research and innovation at the regional level,” said Pirita Lindholm, director of the European Regions Research and Innovation Network, which provides a platform for regional and local research and innovation cooperation. Involving a cross-section of stakeholders from across the EU helps “bring to the discussion others who are not so familiar with the key topics that are being tackled in the Brussels bubble,” she added.

The conference, organised by the National Research Development and Innovation Office in Budapest, will reflect host country Hungary’s own efforts to promote the competitiveness of the EU with research, innovation and regional development as building blocks for EU-wide growth and prosperity, as well as combatting the fragmentation of the European RDI ecosystem. European productivity, global economic cooperation and labour market flexibility, as well as regional cohesion, are central features of the ‘New European Competitiveness Deal’, a priority of Hungary’s European Council presidency in the second half this year.

Avoiding regional development traps

More than 150 participants from at least 22 countries are due to attend this year’s WIRE conference, the 13th in a sequence, starting in 2010. Interest is particularly high from so-called widening countries - the 15 EU members that are considered to be at a disadvantage in research and innovation resources. The plenary session on Wednesday will highlight “regional development traps” and how to overcome them. That term is a reference to areas in the EU that feel left behind economically and developmentally, or are facing economic disruption, contributing to migration and disaffection. Ron Boschma, a professor of Regional Economics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and a recognised expert on regional diversification, innovation and resilience, is scheduled to deliver the opening remarks.

One panel will delve into the regional innovation gap within and across EU countries. Participants will discuss tools for measuring and monitoring the innovation performance and the evolution of European regions and member states, and cover practical ways of narrowing the divide, using concrete examples from representatives of regional ecosystems. Magda De Carli, who heads the European Semester and Country Intelligence unit and is deputy director of the ERA and Innovation directorate, part of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, will moderate the panel.

To help promote EU-wide synergies between and across regions, experts will also the discuss the Regional Innovation Valleys project. Backed by €116 million in Commission funding, this novel initiative aims to promote regional cooperation and pioneering research in areas, such as healthcare, energy, cybersecurity and global food security.

“Regions play a crucial role in implementing European policies and initiatives, including in the area of research and innovation,” noted a senior Commission official. “The European Commission has adopted different measures to address the innovation divide across Europe and the fragmentation of the European innovation ecosystem, but we are aware that this is not enough. We need to work together and in a coordinated manner with national and regional administrations to achieve our objectives,” the official added, noting the WIRE conference “will be a great occasion to listen to the different stakeholders and take stock of their advice and proposals concerning regional competitiveness.”

A place-based approach to innovation

The conference’s closing panel will focus on how FP10 could be used to expand support for the regions and promote synergies with the EU Structural Funds, which finance socioeconomic development and less-developed areas. In October, the European Committee of the Regions called for a “place-based approach to innovation” in the next FP.

Lindholm, who will participate in the FP10 panel, said the Budapest conference could play a key role in influencing future funding for regional innovation. “On the one hand we would like to see much stronger support for place-based ecosystems in the future framework programme, maybe throughout the programme,” she explained, “but also potentially strengthening existing programmes like the European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE), which supports the regional innovation valleys initiative,” while noting the most important thing is that the funding is available regardless of what the programme is called.