The Lisbon European Council set the combined goal of strengthening social cohesion
and becoming the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. The open method of co-ordination is “
the means of spreading best practice and achieving greater convergence towards the main EU goals.There exists a great disparity of RTD efforts within European regions, no dedicated coordination actions and no concerted policies in the RTD sector between Peripheral Maritime and Central East regions, “the gap of networking activities among the regions within the EU can be demonstrated by the significant difference regarding innovation performances of the Member States”.
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The
project NOVAREGIO of AREA Science Park will enhance the
interaction between national policy design and regional implementation to foster
networking and provide guidance to RTD policy makers through mutual learning, coordination and collaboration between
two major European Organizations: the “CEI - Central European Initiative” (*)and the “CPMR - Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe” with the goal to ensure
more efficient use of Structural Funds in supporting RTD investment, enhancing interaction between national policy design and regional implementation, thus fostering networking and providing guidance to policy makers in RTD matters.
NOVAREGIO is structured in 3 main phases:
- in Phase 1 a Virtual “Centre”, a repository of knowledge and experience to ensure long-term sustainability, will be created and will be driven by an international board called SSC-Strategic Steering Committee;
- in Phase 2 actions dealing with the development of national and regional capabilities will be set out, through a benchmarking analysis of successful RTD policies within the regions: NOVAREGIO partners will be supported by their regional authorities; out of identified 25 RTD Best Practice Policies, 10 will be benchmarked so to produce a benchmarking Practice Manual for knowledge transfer actions;
- In Phase 3 benchmarks will be transferred among NOVAREGIO partners into their regions through 3 workshops and 3 seminars to establish a collaborative working environment and personnel exchange within networks; following a spill-over effect those practices will be spread into farther regions.
NOVAREGIO partners are:
- Consorzio per l’AREA di Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica di Trieste (Italy) -Coordinator;
- Innova SpA (Italy);
- SFG-Steiermärkische Forschungs- und Entwicklungsförderungs-ges.m.b.H.(Austria);
- Public Agency for Technology of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenia);
- Foundation For Research&Technology Hellas (Greece);
- Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, S.A. (Spain);
- Länsteknikcentrum i Jönköpings län AB (Sweden);
- South-Transdanubian Regional Development Agency (Hungary).
NOVAREGIO is a project of AREA Science Park co-financed by the EC in the frame of the 6th FP, under the specific programme ‘Integrating and Strengthening the European Research Area’.
(*) The CEI, as an intergovernamental body with seventeen Member States, is involved in the NOVAREGIO Project through its Science and Technology Network.