S&T International Cooperation Network for Eastern European and Central Asian Countries Conclusions Stakeholders Conference EECA “EU-EECA Cooperation in the Innovation Sector: Bi-regional Responses to Major Societal and Economic Challenges” Kiev,Ukraine 25 - 26 April 2012
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S&T International Cooperation Network for Eastern European and
Central Asian Countries
Conclusions
Stakeholders Conference
EECA“EU-EECA Cooperation in the Innovation Sector: Bi-regional Responses to Major
ThePolicyStakeholdersConference that tookplaceinKievon25-26April2012wasthefifthinaseriesof Conferences organized in the framework of theIncoNet EECA and IncoNet CASC FP7 projects. ThefocusoftheeventwasontheEU-EECA Cooperation in the innovation sector with a focus on the bi-regional responses to major societal and economic challenges.
The Conference in Kiev followed a similar event inWarsaw (November 2011) where the “White PaperonOpportunitiesandChallengesinViewofEnhanc-ingtheEUCooperationwithEasternEurope,CentralAsiaandSouthCaucasus”wasfirstpresented.JointlypreparedbyexpertsfromEUandEECAcountriesandresulting fromawide stakeholder consultation pro-
cess,theWhitePaperprovidesaknowledgebaseonthestateofaffairs inSTIpolicies, identifiesa seriesof Challenges and Recommendations on EnhancingtheEU-EECASTICooperation,manyofwhichtouchdirectly or indirectly the issue of Innovation. In ad-dition,theWhitePaperproposesashort-termimple-mentationscenario,includingalsoaJointImplemen-tationRoadmapandaqualitativeimpactassessmentforeachrecommendation.
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statebodiesresponsibleforinnovationpolicydevel-opment and implementation are created. Nationalstrategies are fostering in priority capacity buildingandinfrastructuredevelopment.
AttheleveloftheEC,strengtheningtheroleofInno-vationinparticularwithrespecttosocietalchallengesisatthecoreoftheH2020andalreadyappearsama-jorobjectiveintheproposedorientationofthe2013FP7 International CooperationWork Programme. Adedicatednewtool(R2I-ENP)willbeintroducedwiththeobjectivetobridgethegapbetweenresearchandinnovationinENPcountriesandtoimprovetheper-formanceintransferringandusingknowledgeresult-ingfromresearch.
Innovation isakeyparameterforeconomicgrowth,whilebeingamajorcomponentinSTIpoliciesinEU(Horizon 2020, Innovation Union flagship) and intheEECAcountries(nationalSTIstrategies,CISPro-grammeforCooperationinInnovationetc.).
On thewhole, Innovation is seenasa key responsein addressing core social and economic challengessuchaslowgrowthrate,environmentalthreats,etc.Strengthening innovation is one of the answers toweakpatentingperformanceandtolimiteddevelop-mentofnewproducts,processesandservices.
Specificattentionwasgiventotheroleandpotentialimpact of social innovation on various areas of so-cietaldevelopmentincludingeducationandtraining,workandemployment,socialandhealthcaresystems.
Similarly,corechallengesintheEECAregion,suchasthesignificantlyweakproductivitygrowthwidespreadacross countries and industries and the shrinking la-borforceespeciallyforhighskills,couldbeaddressedthroughInnovation.
Promotionof Innovation is increasingly becoming apriority in most of the EECA countries, where newlaws on stimulating innovation activities exist and
Innovation – major policy objective in both EU and EECA
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AnumberofgoodpracticeexamplesinbothEUandEECA countries have been highlighted with regardsto innovation policies and fundingmechanisms, de-velopment of innovation structures and successfulacademia-industry partnerships that could spread tomanyothercountries.
Significant insight was provided on the necessarysteps for thematurationof a national research andinnovationsystem,inparticularwithreferencetotheprerequisite to have all system components (includ-inggovernment, intermediaryactors,R&Dorganiza-tions)inplaceandcooperatingamongeachother.Ithasbeenemphasizedthatanationalstrategyandanaction plan need to be developed, followed by thedefinitionofpriorities,oftenbasedonsmartspecial-ization, while the results of the implementation ofsuchpolicyinitiativesshouldbeassessedfrequently.
Particularattentionwasplacedontheroleofinterna-tionalreviewsasatoolforimprovednationalinnova-tionpolicies.SuchisthecaseoftheUNECEinnovationperformancereviewsrecentlyconductedinEECAcoun-tries (BY,KZ). In this regard, the need to ensure thecooperationandsupportofthenationalstakeholdersintheimplementationoftherecommendationsarising
In younger EUMSandAC (CzechRepublic, Poland,Romania,Turkey)butalsoinseveralEECAcountries(such as Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) activitiesthatstimulateinnovationhavebeendistinguishedasgood practice examples. It isworthmentioning thenew support tools for start-ups and the increasednumberofTechnoParksinKazakhstan,theset-upofInnovationCentersinArmenia(withpriorityintheICTfield)andthecreationofnewTechnoParksonHighTechnologiesandIndustrialHighTechinUzbekistan.
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DespitetheencouragingemergenceofbestpracticesinthefieldofInnovationinbothEUandEECAcoun-tries,theneedforadditionalefforts forcatching-upwithinternationalcompetitorsiswidelyrecognizedasapriorityinbothregions.Inthatrespect,therecom-mendationsoftheWhitePaper,asaresultofbroadconsultation among policy makers and the scienceandinnovationcommunitiesfrombothEUandEECAregions,constituteasolidbasisforjointactionsthatcandirectly impact Innovation. Inparticular,atten-tionshouldbegiventorecommendationsaddressing:
• Involving the private sector in STI policy dia-logueprocessesfromtheverybeginning;
• Supporting the setting up of innovation clus-ters and technological platforms in EECA andenhancingtheparticipationofprivatecompaniesfromEECAinsuchstructuresbysharingthebestEUpractices;
Recommendations for a stronger EU-EECA Cooperation in Innovation
• Organizing training courses on innovationmanagementandentrepreneurshipandsupportingtheSMEsinrecognizingtheneedsofthemarket;
• Creating collaborative competitive R&D andinnovation fundingprogrammes involving enter-prises, based on excellence and deploying openandtransparentselectionprocedures;
• Stimulating mutual learning activities in thefieldofinternationalstandards;
• Simplifyingtheproceduresforthecreationofinnovative start-ups stemming from universitiesandresearchinstitutes.
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IntheframeoftheEU-EECAcooperationinthefieldof Innovation it is important to agree on a joint implementation road map,focusingonspecificpri-orities tobeimplementedontheshort,mediumandlongterm,takingalsointoaccounttheexpected im-pactofeveryprioritytoimplement.
Further,itisimportanttoidentifythepotentialstake-holderstobeinvolved(policymakers,scientists,pri-vatesectorandindustry)frombothEUandEECA(ontheprincipleofvariablegeometry)andtorecognizetheadequatesourcesoffunding(National,Bilateral,FP7/H2020, ENPI,DCI,other) for the actions tobeundertaken.Last,butnotleastthereisaneedformo-tivated and high-skilled volunteers that will set-upandimplementsuitableprojects.
Shaping the future – next steps
PROJECT & CONTACT DATA:S&T International Cooperation Network forEastern European and Central Asian Countries
Websites: www.inco-eeca.net www.incrEAST.euStart date: 1 January 2008End date: 30 June 2012Coordination: International Centre for Black Sea Sudies (ICBSS) 4 Xenophontos St. 10557 Athens, Greece
Dr. George Bonas Project Coordinator Phone: +30 210 3242 321 E-mail: [email protected]
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