Mexico governmental visit to DG JRC Seville to explore avenues for further cooperation on Smart Specialisation

News article |

On 27 April, Gloria Marmolejo Jaramillo, Director General of the State Council of Science and Technology of Colima, Mexico (Consejo Estatal de Ciencia y Tecnología del Estado de Colima, CECYTCOL) and Technical Secretariat of the Commission of Science and Technology of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico (CONAGO), and Marisol Chavira Maravilla, Coordinator of the Science Communication Programme of Colima's government, visited DG JRC Seville for a first meeting about potential cooperation possibilities, with special focus on Smart Specialisation.

On 27 April, Gloria Marmolejo Jaramillo, Director General of the State Council of Science and Technology of Colima, Mexico (Consejo Estatal de Ciencia y Tecnología del Estado de Colima, CECYTCOL) and Technical Secretariat of the Commission of Science and Technology of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico (CONAGO), and Marisol Chavira Maravilla, Coordinator of the Science Communication Programme of Colima's government, visited DG JRC Seville for a first meeting about potential cooperation possibilities, with special focus on Smart Specialisation.

The CECYTCOL is part of the Mexican inter–governmental/regional network Red Nacional de Consejos y Organismos estatales de Ciencia y Tecnología (REDNACECyT), where all 32 Mexican federal states are participating, discussing and coordinating their regional Science, Technology and Innovation policies and innovation agendas.

The visit served for the preparation of the Smart Specialisation Worldwide preconference workshop in Seville that will be held on 25 September 2018, i.e. preceding the 2018 SMARTER conference.

Furthermore, this governmental visit gave the Smart Specialisation Platform the opportunity to exchange views with the two high-ranking government officials about related policy experience in the Centre-West (Pacific) region of Mexico, and more generally the innovation agendas of federal states related to Smart Specialisation, as well as macro-regional innovation agendas.

During the visit, a fruitful exchange between DG JRC representatives and researchers and the Mexican delegation took place, including the presentation by the Smart Specialisation Platform team of its activities related to the worldwide dimension of Smart Specialisation. On the Mexican side, the Director General of the CECYTCOL and Technical Secretariat of the Commission of Science and Technology of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico (CONAGO), Gloria Marmolejo, presented insights of the innovation ecosystem in Colima and the general state of affairs of the place-based Mexican innovation ecosystem and the implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies. Further possibilities for collaboration are being explored, particularly a collaboration with CONAGO to support the implementation and evaluation of Smart Specialisation in Mexico and establish Smart Specialisation as a tool for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as possible common international activities in this area.

Smart Specialisation Worldwide preconference workshop

On 25 September 2018, one day before the start of the 2018 SMARTER Conference, DG JRC will host a ground-breaking international workshop dedicated to the developments and potential of Smart Specialisation worldwide. Building on European successes and experiences, Smart Specialisation is increasingly being considered a driver of decentralised innovation policies. So far, it is present at different levels of implementation in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Norway and Peru, and is gaining traction in China, the United States of America, Canada and Africa, among others. The objective of this workshop is to showcase the main developments of various non-EU countries in the implementation and/or adaptation of Smart Specialisation, and to bring together the Smart Specialisation worldwide community. It will gather the participation of recognised academics, experts from international organisations, policy-makers and practitioners, as well as European Commission representatives and representatives from the European Union External Action Service.