Advancing Regional Innovation: ideas from S3 2024 Conference
On 11 and 12 December 2024, the picturesque winter backdrop of Rimini, Italy, hosted the S3 Community of Practice Conference on Smart Specialisation Strategies. This event brought together an incredible mix of academics, practitioners, policymakers, and politicians from across Europe to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in regional innovation. It is the flagship event for S3 stakeholders from across regions in EU Member States. It is organised by the DG for Regional Policy of the European Commission and the S3 CoP Secretariat, in partnership with Emilia-Romagna Region and with the support of the Municipality of Rimini.
The intensive programme fostered deep discussions on initiating, managing, and implementing innovation, while addressing critical topics such as innovation costs and the barriers to innovation diffusion. Participants shared invaluable experiences and insights, creating a truly collaborative environment for learning and growth.
The event was inaugurated by Nicola de Michelis, Director of DG Regio at the European Commission, and Jamil Sadegholvaald, Mayor of the City of Rimini. Both emphasized the importance of fostering innovation ecosystems to drive regional development and cohesion.
During the conference Dr. Beata Kviatek, UNLOCK project leader, shared insights from the UNLOCK project, emphasizing the need for robust innovation strategies that address both technological and socio-economic challenges. She also discussed the project's actions in promoting sustainable energy solutions and fostering regional development through green hydrogen initiatives.
S3 practitioners, experts, policymakers, and other key stakeholders came together to engage in this bottom-up event to network, discuss S3 policy and implementation issues, and exchange information and good practices. In addition, the S3 Conference brought together regions recognized as Regional Innovation Valleys under the NEIA flagship action.
The S3 Conference 2024 was presented around three pillars:
-
Successful S3 Design and Implementation: This pillar focused on fostering place-based innovation, enabling sustainable and resilient economic development, and addressing challenges, capacities, and policy mix. It explored how S3 can foster place-based innovation while ensuring resilience and strategic autonomy in the territories and the EU as a whole.
-
S3 and Interregional Collaboration: This pillar highlighted experiences related to interregional collaboration, exploring challenges, opportunities, and mechanisms to align different instruments with regional strategies and capacity-building tools.
-
Smart Specialisation and its Role for Connecting Regional Innovation Valleys: This pillar focused on key thematic areas identified in the New European Innovation Agenda, namely green, digital, food, health, energy, raw materials, and manufacturing. It included examples from regions and the newly launched RIV projects supported by I3 and EIE.
In conclusion, the S3 Community of Practice Conference in Rimini demonstrated the importance of fostering innovation ecosystems and the value of collaborative efforts in driving regional development.