group ii activities and need orientation

EFFECTIVE REGIONAL INNOVATION

SYSTEMS SUBGROUP

Workshop II: Activities & Need orientation

Members regions involved: Rhône-Alpes, East Sweden & Crete

23rd of May 2007, Ennis, Shannon

2 © Innovating Regions in Europe (IRE) Secretariat

Introduction

Activities & Need orientation• Description

• Identification of key elements

• Regional Case Studies– Background

– Challenge

– Solutions

– Results

– Linkages


ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES = focus on the primary means to make companies innovate and to make entrepreneurs create and develop innovative start-ups. Special methods for incentives for companies and academia are seen to be important.


Key Elements

Identified key elements• Financing start-ups without loss of independency • Innovator and entrepreneurship, commercial requests

incubators, coaching, mentoring, competences at boards• Risk Capital for new product and services (grants, loans to

be repaid after success), owners capital (shares)• Fit for purpose financial systems • Physical and virtual infrastructure • University based innovation champions• Business based innovation champions • Financing patents (and to communicate the winners)• Low entry costs• Innovation and entrepreneurship (commercial requests)


Activities – key elements

Some regional examples


Key Elements – Regional Examples

Financing start-ups without loss of independency:

SPINCRETE - Regional VC in Crete

• Established by Commercial Chamber of Crete, the Cretan Cooperative Bank & Univesity of Crete

• A need to bolster entrepreneurship in Greece• Encourage entrepreneurship & assist the development and

growth of SME’s across the entire range of productive activity

• This new fund invests in inovative SMEs, reinforces local economic development, new jobbs and added value in the region



Innovation and entrepreneurship, commercial requests incubators, coaching, mentoring:

Mjärdevi Science Park & GROWLINK, (SE)• Strong incubators as driving forces• Mjärdevi uses the regional GROWLINK-model as the catalyst

for stimulation • GROWLINK - optimising the services available to companies

and ensuring that business ideas with great potential receive appropriate support during their different development stages.

• GROWLINK is structured into three steps following the establishment and development of a start-up: idea, start and growth.



Risk Capital for new product and services (grants, loans to be repaid after success), owners capital (shares):

The Fund of Innovation of the Department of the Rhone • Grant to innovative projects presented by companies situated in

the Rhone a support in the form of loans without interests, granted on credits from the Department.

• The fund granted till the end of year 2006, a total of 343 loans for a global 7,8 million euros amount.



Fit for purpose financial systems:

PRAXE PROGRAM, Greece• Introduced to assist spin-off firms from universities and research

institutes.• Challenge: The exploitation and commercial utilisation of existing

research results stemming from research projects, either in the form of the provision of services or exploitation licences, or by the creation of knowledge-intensive business activity (the foundation of spin-off companies).

• Preparatory activities before the establishment of the firm, such as experimental development, patenting, drafting of a business plan, search for potential private investors undertaken by the

researchers and their institutions



Physical and virtual infrastructure:

HELP-FORWARD NETWORK www.help-forward.gr

• HELP-FORWARD offers Technology Transfer brokerage services to Greek companies and Research Institutions and provides information, mediation and advisory services to all stages of Technology Transfer and Exploitation of Research Results.

– funding opportunities identification,

– detection of technological needs,

– technology watch and evaluation,

– partner search

– technology transfer negotiations support



Business based innovation champions• The French finance law for 2007, integrates the creation of a

“status of the company of growth “• The status "gazelles" is based in particular on three key

measures:• a mechanism of frost of the company tax, allowing to neutralize all or any of

the increase of this tax during the period of growth.• a gap of the payment of the contributions of the employees recently

engaged, to avoid that the new hirings press on the finance of the company at the crucial moment.

• the possibility of benefiting from the early refund of the Research Tax Credit for companies benefiting from this tax credit, to allow them to benefit at once from the finance necessary for the investments in the innovation.

• 2000 SMEs took benefit from the “gazelles” status in 2006


NEED ORIENTATION

NEED-ORIENTATION: The research within the framework of CIRCLE is conducted under two long-term base funding:


Need Orientation - Key Elements

Identified key elements

1. Knowledge about the firm needs and processes

2. Client oriented

3. Awareness and innovation concerns

4. Proximity to client



Identification of regional needs

VINNOVA - The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems

• State authority that aims to promote growth and prosperity throughout Sweden.

• Funds needs-driven research required by a competitive business and industrial sector and a flourishing society, and to strengthen the networks that are such a necessary part of this work.

• VINNOVA are running a number of programmes focussing funding needs-driven research, one example is the project “New tools for health” in Östergötland. VINNOVA supports this action with some 6 million € during a ten year period.



Client Oriented

Regional Innovation Poles(RIP) in Greece• To strengthen regional competitiveness through the

strengthening of research and of technological and innovative capabilities of the regional innovation system.

• The creation of the Pole is organized around a limited number of sectors or technologies. The aim is to create a critical mass of stakeholders, technologies and innovative ideas so that the region will become competitive in some selected fields.

• 5 regional innovation poles are about to start in mid- 2007



Knowledge and awareness – systematic and strategic identification of regional needs

Hälsans nya verktyg (New tools for health)• A regional initiative for growth with focus on health and

health related business • The main motives are a great and growing market potential

and a suitable regional profile with roots in the academic society, the business environment and public organisations.

• The primary objective is to generate growth in the region through a successive introduction of the new products on the great and growing international market.

• The operations are co-ordinated in a member association with currently some 80 member organisations - companies as well as public organisations, including SAAB, the municipalities in the county, the Östsam regional federation, trade unions, Linköping University and research companies.

Thank you

group ii activities and need orientation

Economy & Finance