Learning Among Regions on Smart Specialisation

October 2017 -
September 2020
Priority area:
Innovation
1. Innovation 1.2 Smart specialisation

LARS

The project attempts to help the public sector in leading smart specialisation processes in their regions and to connect innovation networks across regions. It helps find solutions tackling the fragmentation of regional systems of innovation looking for entrepreneurial discoveries within such topics as blue growth, bio and circular economy, advanced production methods and technologies for energy efficiency.

Summary

 

Background

The global value chains and increased sophistication of production constitute a large challenge for regional development efforts. There is a need to learn and up-grade the level of policy intervention. The point of departure for this in the LARS project is that regional innovation systems are different but may learn from each other through transnational learning and exploiting the complementarities. It has also been suggested that collaboration between smart specialized regions could form the base for macro regional strategies.

Activities

The project materializes in six steps:

  • Mapping of strategies in order to select the final intervention areas;
  • Triple-helix gap analysis with the purpose of finding deficiencies and also good cases of innovation network functioning;
  • Matching partners in transfer network based on the “good” and “bad” practices;
  • Learning on the transfers, essentially an innovation context analysis;
  • Piloting new activities in the regions with the purpose of improving the innovation networks;
  • Communicating the findings with a view on the wider implications of the project.

Partners involved

The consortium behind LARS consists of partners from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland, constituting mostly of authorities with a substantial experience as implementers of EU-regional policies but also of research institutions with research and advisory experience in the field.

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Budgets

Total
€ 1.65
million
Erdf
€ 1.14
million
Eni + Russia
€ 0.00
million
Norway
€ 0.09
million

PARTNERS

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CONTACTS

Project manager

Regional Council of Ostrobothia

Jerker Johnson

+35 863 206 564

Legal representative

Regional Council of Ostrobothnia

Kaj Suomela

+35863206527

Financial manager

Regional Council of Ostrobothnia

Margot From

+358632065537

Communication manager

Regional Council of Ostrobothia

Jerker Johnson

35 863 206 564