Transcript Innovation Front End

HEIs, Research Centers and Companies
for regional development
The case of Piemonte
The regional context
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
02/04/2016
Piemonte is a region in North-western Italy with 4.5 mln inhabitants and
a GDP of about 100 mln €
The key challenge is reversing long-term economic decline and
promoting transformation (OECD Review, 2009)
Large industries are declining or relocating, less SMEs than Italian
average
New constitutional powers allow regions to foster innovation (2005)
Since 2006, the Regional System of
Innovation, in the framework of ERA, aims at
– building a new regional governance for
innovation and industrial reconversion
– Merging overlapping initiatives
– Creating a culture of evaluation
The program mobilized 350 mln € in 3 yrs.
(80 from SFs)
Significant pressure from central government
to cut public spending
ISMB – Copyright 2011
2
Barriers to smart specialization
•
For Regional Authorities: Fragmentation and Discontinuity
– Attitude towards spreading investment across businesses and
sectors
– Resistance of sectors which are excluded from smart specialization
roadmap
– Tendency to change roadmap when majorities change
•
For HEIs / Research Centers: Academic Culture
– Wrong system of incentives
– Scarce possibility to hire staff devoted to TT
– Budget constraints
•
For Companies: Investment Survival Dilemma
– Tendency to underprice innovation
– De-industrialization / de-localization
– Complex procedures to access funding (esp. for SMEs)
02/04/2016
ISMB – Copyright 2011
3
Possible contributions
•
•
•
02/04/2016
By Regional Authorities
– Persuading the local ecosystem to focus on narrow set of objectives
– Piloting Innovation Poles and other regional funding schemes
towards smart specialization strategies
– Persuading HEIs to change the structure of incentives
– Using public procurement as a leverage, acting as a market flywheel
By HEIs / Research Centers
– Contributing bottom-up to the determination of the more promising
sectors for smart specialization
– Promoting focused R&D&I activities, including those financed with
own funds
– Working within the innovation ecosystem
– Providing career incentives to TT activities
By Companies
– Accepting to adequately price innovation and to invest in it
– Accepting to reconvert towards smart specialization target fields
ISMB – Copyright 2011
4
How to make it happen?
• Locally
– Change of mentality, from fragmented support to systemic
governance
– Coordination of overlapping initiatives
– Harmonization of public and private funds
– New structure of incentives for HEIs
• At the EU Commission level
– Providing guidance on smart specialization strategies
– Favouring continuity of policies
– Helping local authorities to elaborate common expectations
with HEIs and business (knowledge-based economy)
– Transmitting culture of evaluation
– Conditioning the allocation of SFs to be consistent with EU
policies (e.g. EU2020, Innovation Union, etc.)
– Promoting local-global connectivity
02/04/2016
ISMB – Copyright 2011
5
The ISMB model
•
ISMB is a non-for-profit Research & Innovation Center operating in the
ICT domain in cooperation with private enterprises and institutions
•
ISMB has been set up in 2000 by a private foundation (Compagnia di
San Paolo) and a University (Politecnico di Torino) and then joined by
industrial partners: ST Microelectronics, Telecom Italia, SKF
•
ISMB can act as a liaise between different actors of the innovation
ecosystem
•
In 2010 ISMB, Politecnico di Torino and
the Torino Wireless Foundation created
an Innovation Front End to help
businesses and institutions accessing
innovation
•
The IFE and similar initiatives can help
regional decision makers to target smart
specialization efforts
02/04/2016
ISMB – Copyright 2011
6
Contact Information
Francesco Ferrero
Technology Transfer Manager
Head of Innovation Front End
[email protected]
www.ismb.it
Mob. +39 335 6056494
02/04/2016
ISMB – Copyright 2011
7