INNO-Actions - European innovation weeks
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Rationale
Citizens’ support for innovation is important for a fertile environment for innovation and for motivating young people to make their career choices in favour of innovation. More than ever, innovation is the result of combining different skills and talents. Globalisation has increased the competition on the location of businesses even more so than before. Regions compete worldwide for investments by offering the best possible conditions for living and working in a “war for talent”. Clusters build upon such regional strengths and provide a promising way to respond to these challenges of global competition.
Clusters are not a new concept. What is new is the pace and intensity of competitive pressures and economic changes which call for world-class excellence and a high degree of adaptability which also raises the stakes for clusters. Only the combination of entrepreneurial dynamism and strong linkages with top-level knowledge institutions and excellent educational systems will ensure the future competitiveness of the European economy. To attract or keep the best people and investments, regions have to showcase their innovation potential and attractiveness for people and investors with the view to building a strong and unique “ regional innovation identity”. As shown by the Innobarometer 2006, creating a positive image of a region ranks high on the wish list of innovative enterprises.
Under the PRO INNO Europe® initiative, very successful "European Innovation Weeks" have been organised in 2007 across the European Union (EU) with about 100.000 visitors, which helped raising innovation awareness of citizens in regions and promoting an innovation culture throughout Europe. It is proposed to build upon these successes and to launch another series of innovation awareness weeks that will make known to the widest possible extent a region's innovation potential. This requires joint efforts of business, academia and public administration identifying and presenting practical examples of their innovativeness.
As a common theme for such awareness actions it is proposed to demonstrate the important role of networking – both within a region and with other parts of the world – to stimulate innovation. This action supports the strive for excellence of clusters in Europe and their ambition to be “best in class”. Through the organisation of “European Innovation Weeks”, regions and cities should provide showcases of excellence and role models of which they and their citizens can feel proud.
This also supports the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009 to which this action may be regarded as a contribution.
This action shall be implemented through an open Call for pr oposals as an “INNO-Action” under the PRO INNO Europe® initiative.
Objectives
The main objective of the “European Innovation Weeks” is to bring innovation to the citizens, by showcasing regional excellence and innovativeness. This will raise interest in innovative institutions and enterprises, in particular if it will be demonstrated in a simple manner how innovation can respond to societal needs and challenges. As a result, citizens will be more open towards innovative solutions and professions that drive innovation.
The organisation of the “European Innovation Weeks” requires coordinated efforts of different actors, all contributing in different ways to the innovation potential of a city or region.
Experience from previous innovation awareness action s funded under PRO INNO Europe® shows that this can effectively stimulate the regional dialogue and bring different institutions and organisations, often for the first time, closer together, thus strengthening regional innovation systems and the overall commitment towards innovation.
Through the “European Innovation Weeks” citizens and enterprises will find out more about the many different innovation activities in their own city or region.
It is a declared objective of this action to highlight the innovation potential of companies in a given region, as well as the important role of external collaboration, e.g., with university and other firms, which is central to “open innovation”. This is not only of interest for the citizens of this region but also for attracting potential business and financing partners from other parts of the world.
The “European Innovation Weeks” shall help to raise the international profile of a city or region and thus contribute to building a strong region innovation identity.
Finally, the “European Innovation Weeks” will help to better understand regional and cultural differences in the perception of innovation and offer better strategies on how to better bring innovation to the citizens in the future.
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