Energising innovation policy through Dual Use and Sustainable Construction

RIS3 has provided a real boost to our regional innovation policy, in particular by discovering the potential of Dual Use Technologies and by developing an Action Plan for Sustainable Construction.

The Entrepreneurial Discovery Process allowed us to discover transversal opportunities in several of our innovative domains.  By looking inside the region we began to appreciate the extent of assets and economic activities related to naval, aerospace, defence, transport and logistics, including all the enterprises, researchers, knowledge, and capabilities working in these fields. A series of workshops showed the potential duality of these activities which could be vehicles for strategic diversification.  Yet we also realised that many of the actors working in Dual Use are international which led to a new exercise of ‘looking beyond our regional boundaries’, including benchmarking and network building. This culminated in the organisation of an international conference last October on Dual 'Use Technologies in the framework of RIS3', and a set of recommendations in the Seville Declaration.

Secondly, after prioritising sustainable construction we have an Action Plan with a much more coherent policy mix and a budget of €529 million. This plan aims to make Andalusia an international reference in this area by providing innovative solutions for the global value chain. The Action Plan has also adopted S3 methods including participatory governance, a shared vision, sub-priorities and a monitoring mechanism. We already tasted success last year, being awarded a RegioStar Award for sustainable development, convening an international conference, and participating in the launch of the European Commission's Smart Specialisation Platform for Energy.

We aim to make Andalusia an international reference in the area of sustainable construction by providing innovative solutions for the global value chain.