Pilot 2 on “Research and Innovation Public Private Partnerships for RIS3 Implementation – Approaches for widening stakeholder engagement and networking”

This event took place on the 4^th of November 2019, in Porto, Portugal. It was organised within the context of the “H2020 for RIS3” Working Group (WG), organised as part of the Stairway to Excellence (S2E) project, which is managed by JRC in cooperation with DG REGIO, and in collaboration with the Regional Coordination and Development Commission of the Portuguese regions of Norte and Centro.

S2E seeks to maximise the impact of Smart Specialisation Strategies in EU regions and member states, and to realise the full potential of using EU funding programmes managed at regional, national and EU levels. The WG’s core members are selected Managing Authorities of Member States and regions with a relatively high R&I intensity combined with higher ESIF dependence and lower capacities to capture H2020 funding, but there are also representatives from research institutions and independent experts.

The ultimate aim of the WG "H2020 for RIS3" is to optimise the use of Horizon 2020 (and Horizon Europe) in S3 implementation. This is to be achieved by building the necessary capabilities that may currently be lacking and thus hindering the creation of a research and innovation system containing entities that could be successful in competitive programmes such as H2020.

The WG serves not only as a mutual learning group, but also as test bed to pilot new activities in the territories of its members, the results of which are subsequently discussed in the Working Group. It will also act as an evaluation mechanism when the activities are completed. The following areas of interest were identified as potential pilots:

1. Supporting mechanisms for capacity building in framework programme participation;
2. Research and innovation Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for RIS3 implementation;
3. National Contact Points and their role in H2020 for RIS3;
4. Transnational networking in RIS3 implementation;
5. Efficient utilisation of research and technology infrastructures within the context of RIS3.

Objectives

The November 4 Porto event was the first of a series of two event organised for the Pilot 2 on PPPs. This pilot aimed to test ways to increase public-private collaboration in RIS3 implementation through systematic identification of potential partners and match-making initiatives with those partners. The Portuguese regions of Centro and Norte volunteered to participate in this pilot and the objectives were presented in the last WG meeting on 28 June 2019. Considering the topic of PPP is wide, it was agreed the Pilot would narrow down its thematic scope to the intersection between manufacturing and circular economy, enshrined into the term “circular manufacturing” (CM). Two experts have been contracted to work on complementary aspects:

• Filtering the H2020 projects database in order to identify potential partners for Portuguese stakeholders in the field of CM, and proposing a number of criteria to prioritise among the prospective partner list (64 CM projects with a total of 510 potential partners have been identified).
• Mapping relevant European PPPs in CM, identify if/when/how partnerships can be promoted, obtain an updated picture of the current status of all relevant elements of the Portuguese S3 governance system at regional and national level, and link with the relevant findings of S3P Thematic Platform on industrial modernisation as well Vanguard Initiative.

Approach

Participants discussed how to incorporate the draft results of the two expert reports, a validation of the reports’ methodology, as well as the fine-tuning of how to shape the next phase of the pilot. To this end, the event also covered two parallel interactive sessions on:

• “hard synergies” i.e. at project level (how to exploit the draft results of the H2020 study), leading to joint initiatives, project proposals aiming at dissemination, further exploitation, capacitation, etc. A participatory process of prioritisation was conducted regarding the organisations participating in H2020 projects, their countries, and the projects content, aiming to obtain a shortlist of potential partners with whom a collaboration can be established in the future. The results will be used for shaping a match-making event during the second Pilot workshop in the spring of 2020 between Portuguese and international stakeholders in CM, with a special attention to public-private collaboration.
• “soft synergies” which are more “framework conditions” to induce, facilitate and support the “hard synergies”. It includes a strategic level when regions collaborate with PPPs to define and align roadmaps with RIS3 strategies, or when regional stakeholders (eg. clusters) collaborate with PPPs to define and align roadmaps at both levels. And a programme level when regional programmes, instruments and calls are defined in a way to incentivize and support synergies between strategic and project levels (for example, when a region opens a specific call to support projects that disseminate results from PPPs or to support Seal of Excellence type of mechanisms).

A second event will take place in Centro in spring 2020 and will be formatted as a wider match-making event, building upon the outputs of the November 4th event and the Working Group meeting.