About the project

BOOST - Smart Europe considers that smart and targeted regional policies can be designed to boost employment in innovation-based sectors, with a substantial impact on the local economy

IMPROVE - Smart Europe delivers concrete proposals to improve employment regional strategies on specific fields of interest, addressing decision makers and key stakeholders

IMPLEMENT - A consortium of 13 partners, representing 11 European regions, develops and implements a peer review methodology to support the creation of job opportunities in innovation-based sectors in each local economy

Project Partners

• Province of Flevoland (Lead Partner) - Netherlands
• Assembly of European Regions - EU
• Manchester Metropolitan University - Centre for Enterprise - United Kingdom
• Veneto Region - Italy
• Veneto Innovazione - Italy
• Province of Bologna - Italy
• Maramures County Council - Romania
• Eszak Alfold Regional Development Agency - Hungary
• Almi Foretagspartner Mitt AB - Sweden
• Patras Science Park S.A. - Greece
• The Baltic Institute of Finland - Finland
• Avila County Council - Spain
• Sor - Trondelag County Authority - Norway

Background Information

Smart Europe is in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy, recognising that employment and innovation are intertwined objectives to be pursued to meet Europe's growth and jobs targets for 2020.

Smart Europe is relevant to the smart specialisation approach, calling on national and regional authorities to define smart policies with clear investment priorities on specific innovation assets.

Smart Europe builds on the previous Interreg IVC project Mini Europe (2008 - 2011), focused on transparent infrastructures for innovation in SMEs and the promotion of entrepreneurship. With the deepening of the economic crisis, boosting regional employment in sectors and clusters that combine a potential for innovation and significant job creation has become an urgent task for regional authorities. Therefore, the Mini Europe consortium designed Smart Europe, a project targeting policy interventions for specific segments of regional economies, best capable of sustaining employment growth.

Peer Review Methodology

The Smart Europe Peer Review Methodology enables an objective and high-quality assessment of regional policies targeting the employment growth in the sector of their 'innovation anchor'.

Relevant local stakeholders are involved since the beginning with the aim to collect the needs and demands for the territory and to define specific focus of action.

11 Peer Reviews take place, one in each Smart partner region, allowing to build on the knowledge of peers, experts and practitioners dealing with employment strategies in different European countries, selected by the partners.

Background information is provided to the review team prior to the Peer Review. The host region sets the agenda with interviews, study trips and workshops allowing the experts to identify strengths and weaknesses in its innovation and employment policies.

A checklist is the common tool used by the peers to assess the host region's policy regarding its innovation anchor. After the visit, the review team prepares a report with a series of recommendations on how to improve the region's policy design and delivery.

Based on the feedback of the experts, the host region prepares its Action Plan setting out the concrete steps to follow up to the recommendations. An Implementation Plan defines a longer-term strategy and explains how the recommendations will be included in future regional policies.

Smart Results

• The launch of new innovative companies
• Innovation in traditional sectors and non-metropolitan areas
• The creation of innovative hubs

Smart Europe: Details

• Collects successful employment policies and instruments fostering innovation based jobs in a Catalogue of Good Practices - 11 good practices exchanged
• Engages local institutions and key stakeholders in interactive and dynamic Smart Cafes - 220 stakeholders involved
• Develops and implements a Peer Review Methodology - 11 Action Plans and 11 Implementation Plans
• Supports the improvement of local policies for each partner region through Action and Implementation Plans - 11 regional/local policies addressed
• Issues the Smart Europe Toolkit, a customised package of policy instruments measures to facilitate the creation of innovation based jobs - 1 toolkit
• Disseminates the tested measures towards other interested EU regions - More than 1000 people informed

Interreg IVC

Interreg IVC provides funding for interregional cooperation across Europe. The overall objective of the programme is to improve the effectiveness of regional policies and instruments. The areas of support are innovation and the knowledge economy, environment and risk prevention. Thus, the programme aims to contribute to the economic modernisation and competitiveness of Europe. A project funded by Interreg IVC builds on the exchange of experiences among partners who are ideally responsible for the development of their local and regional policies. Typical tools for exchange of experience are networking activities such as thematic workshops, seminars, conferences, surveys, and study visits. Project partners cooperative to identify and transfer good practices.

 

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