PRO INNO Europe® initiative

PRO INNO Europe® is an initiative of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry aiming at closer cooperation between innovation policy makers and public support organisations with a view to contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe.

Launched in 2006, PRO INNO Europe® has supported closer cooperation between innovation policy makers at different levels, thus contributing to the creation of a European Innovation Space. New innovation policy concepts were jointly developed and tested which helped improve their efficiency and more rapid implementation throughout Europe. PRO INNO Europe® assists Member States and their regions to better invest in innovation, by learning from others and sharing practical experience with them.

In 2009, the second phase of the PRO INNO Europe® initiative will launch a new set of actions that will focus on specific priority areas, such as clusters, eco-innovation and services. Moreover, increased efforts will be undertaken to bring innovation to the citizen and to improve practical cooperation between innovation agencies.

The identification and further dissemination of “good practice” is no longer good enough. To make real progress, Member States and regions have to work closer together in search of “better practice” in support of innovation and to undertake concrete steps to put this into practice.

The second phase of the PRO INNO Europe® initiative will foster trans-national cooperation between public actors responsible for innovation through the following instruments:

1. "INNO-Nets":

The objective of “INNO-Nets” is to encourage regional and national innovation policy makers and public support providers to work more closely together in well-defined priority areas such as clusters, services, eco-innovation and support services provisions. The main outcome will be the development of concrete policy recommendations for better cooperation between regional and national innovation support schemes, as well as specific activities and pilot actions for their implementation. The INNO-Nets will be organised as open platforms for innovation policy learning with a view to actively involve all interested and relevant actors in these areas.

2. "INNO-Actions":

The objectives of “INNO-Actions” is to support trans-national cooperation among regional and/or national authorities contributing to the creation of a more favourable innovation culture in Europe and to raise the quality of services provided by cluster organisations to enterprises. The main outcome will be the organisation of awareness actions aimed at bringing innovation closer to citizens and the development of a European quality scheme for cluster organisations.

Go to the new call for proposal PRO INNO Europe®.