What is a Good Practice? North Rhine-Westphalia ZENIT GmbH and the Enterprise Europe Network

Zentrum für Innovation und Technik in NRW

Encouraging innovation in business and science – Good practices at regional level – The example of NRW

Peter Wolfmeyer, Managing Director, ZENIT GmbH

Innovation Conference “Innovative Silesia”, Katowice, 16th June 2011


• What is a Good Practice?

• North Rhine-Westphalia

• ZENIT GmbH and the Enterprise Europe Network

• PROvendis GmbH

• Cluster competitions

• Innovation Assistant / European Assistant

• PFAU

• Conclusions

Content


Good Practice, Best Practice? Or Better Practice?

• A Good Practice can be defined as a technique, method, process or activity which

is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other

when applied to a particular condition or circumstance.

• The thinking is that a desired outcome can be delivered with the right approach

with fewer problems and unforeseen complications.

• Good Practices can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort)

and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable

procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.

• A Good Practice is not necessarily a Best Practice (which assumes there is only

one solution), i.e. there can be several Good Practices for the same situation.

• Current thinking inclines however towards Better Practices...


NRW

Area

34,088 km

Population

18 million

Population density

526/km

GDP

522 billion €

Universities

68

Non-univ. research facilities

54

Technology centres/incubators

50

Technology transfer units

30

SMEs

763,000

Clusters

16

2009 Source: IT.NRW

Satellite picture with light emitted by London, Paris and Ruhr region,courtesy of RUHR.2010

North Rhine-Westphalia in a nutshell


Commerce and industry in NRW – still going strong

• Bertelsmann AG (1835) Media (publishing, radio, TV, music…)

• Krupp AG (1848) Steel industry

• Bayer AG (1863) Chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry

• Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (1876) Consumer products (detergents, cosmetics)

• Thyssen AG (1891) Coal mining (since 1999 ThyssenKrupp AG)

• Hugo Stinnes GmbH (1892) Coal, shipping

• Haribo GmbH & Co. KG (1920) Food (confectionery)

• Aldi AG (1946) (since 1950 Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd) Commercial enterprise (supermarket chain)


Source: MIWF, 2011

Universities in NRW


Non-university research institutions in NRW

Source: MIWF, 2011


Science and business – powerful partnerships

• E.ON Energy Research Centre = RWTH Aachen University + E.ON AG

• DMRC – Direct Manufacturing Research Centre = Paderborn University + Boeing, Evonik Industries and others

• ICAMS – Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation= Bochum Ruhr University + ThyssenKrupp AG, Bayer Material Science AG, Salzgitter AG, Robert Bosch GmbH


Successful example of PPP - ZENIT GmbH

• Zentrum für Innovation und Technik GmbH in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)

• Founded in 1984 as a Public Private Partnership to support the structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia

• Shareholders:

Netzwerk ZENIT e.V.

Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Consortium of banks

• Employees: about 45

• Turnover: 5 million € (2010)


Europe

• Mediation of cooperation partners

• Information on European Single Market

• Support in internationalisation

Funding

• Consulting/information on national/EU funding programmes

• Evaluation of project ideas and proposals

Technology & innovation

• Initiation of international technology and know-how transfer

• Support of innovation management

• Technology and innovation assessment

Consulting portfolio


Project example: Silesia – NRW

• A project in the framework of INTERREG IIIC- Wojewodschaft Silesia (PL)- Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (D)- Conseil Régional of Nord-Pas de Calais (F)

• Duration: 2004 – 2007

• Background: Memorandum of Understanding between Siliesia and NRW of 01.09.2000

• Objective: To widen and deepen existing trilateral links and co-operation between the participating regional governments, as well as public and private regional bodies/actors and the population at large

• Three project sub-areas: “Industrial Restructuring”, “Social Policy” and “Modern Administration” with 15 individual projects implemented

Regional Triangle of Weimar


• Technical evaluator, project secretariat

• Policy evaluation

• Regional structural policy

• Sectoral initiatives/cluster analyses/cluster development

• Entrepreneur delegations, organisation of exhibition participation

Services for the public sector


The Enterprise Europe Network

• Key instrument of European SME policy (link between European Commission and SMEs)

• Mission: “One-stop shop”

• 581 partners in 48 countries

• Activities: Provision of EU-related information, support in internationalisation, partner search and mediation, assistance in technology and know-how transfer, innovation management, funding and financing advice, etc.

• Thematic Sector Groups (e.g. environment, ICT, medical technology)

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry


The Network in NRW: NRW.Europa

• Germany: 13 Network partners with 55 information andadvice centres

• In North Rhine-Westphalia:


Kielce

Warsaw

Wroclaw

B2 Europe West Poland Coordinator: Wroclaw Centre for Technology Transfer, Wroclaw

BSN South Poland Coordinator: Regional Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer, Kielce

BISNEP Coordinator: University Technology Transfer CentreUniversity of Warsaw

Central Poland BSN Coordinator:Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), Warsaw

The Network in Poland: 30 partners in 4 consortia

www.enterprise-europe-network.ec.europa.eu/about/branches/pl

Annual Conference in Warsaw - 26.-28.09.2011!


Enterprises, universities and research organisations which…

• Want to exploit market opportunities in the EU

• Want to make use of international procurement and supply markets

• Are seeking cooperation partners in the EU

• Are facing competition in the area of innovation and seek access to know-how and technologies

• Want to market existing knowledge abroad

• Require finance or funding for international activities

Whom does the Network address?


• PROvendis is a ZENIT spin-off established in October 2001 (independent since 2008), shareholders are 27 universities in NRW

• PROvendis is the patent marketing agency of the universities in NRW and one of the largest patent marketing agencies for universities in Europe

• Its mission is to utilize commercially the innovation potential of universities and research organisations through the rapid transfer of knowledge to enterprises

• An interdisciplinary team of experts offers enterprises exclusive access to the inventions and patents of over 20,000 scientists in a wide variety of high-end technology fields

www.provendis.info

PROvendis GmbH


• Aim is to secure long term competitiveness by establishing structures essential to sustainable innovation policy and to eliminate deficits

• Defined by the regional government as a main instrument for the selection of high-quality and innovative projects worthy of funding

• The competitions help the best ideas and concepts in the region to be put into practice on the basis of a fair and transparent process with clearly defined rules

• Five lead markets: Health, Energy, New Materials and Production Technologies, Transport and Logistics, Knowledge-intensive Production and Services.

• They are used above all for the 16 clusters in NRW, and someinterdisciplinary topics

• Financed by ERDF (Objective 2)

Cluster competitions


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NRW clusters

Lead markets

Coordination Cluster secretariat

State ministries

Transport and logistics

New materials and production technologies

Energy Knowledge-intensive production and

services

Healthcare

16 clusters in NRW


• Medical and health sector is the sector with the most jobs (over 1 million)

and the most dynamic growth in NRW

• Initiative targets the formation of a cluster focussing on joint R&D projects between science and business through which new processes and products are generated in the short/medium term

• Aims are:

To identify, strengthen, bundle, expand and link existing competencies, through the establishment of a sustainable, internationally visible medical cluster and

To improve NRW’s competitive position in this sector at international level

• Project proposals are invited from consortia of universities and enterprises

Example - InnoMeT.NRW


IPT - Innovative Personnel Transfer

• Objectives are reduction of skills’ bottlenecks in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and upgrading of career opportunities for higher education graduates

• Higher education graduates from universities and polytechnics receive assistance

• Personnel costs for 12 months are funded


Outcomes

• The personnel costs of about 1.600 graduates have been

funded since 1986

• Participants remain at the enterprises as employees (50 - 65%)

• Additional project ideas

• Know-how transfer

• Contacts to higher education institutions

• Internationalisation of the enterprise’s activities


PFAU – Support for start-ups from universities

Objectives:

•To minimise the personal and financial risks linked to starting a business

•To turn innovative ideas into products ready for market

•To develop product-oriented and innovative services so that they can be offered in the marketplace


Who and what is funded?

• Graduates who received their last degree or doctorate less than two years ago and have a mentor at a university in NRW

• The enterprise must be located in NRW

• Funding via personnel costs amounting to a part-time researchplacement at a university (for the maximum duration of two years 1.000 € net per month)

• In addition, a chequebook for consulting services amounting to 5.000 Euro

• Two seminars free-of-charge on topics relevant to start-ups, e.g. marketing and sales, project management, etc.


Outcomes

• 565 business plans submitted

• 233 start-ups funded

• 2/3 services, 1/3 production

• 85% of the start-ups survive the first three years

• 4.8 jobs per start-up


A few FP 7 statistics for NRW and Poland

• 1224 participations by NRW players (coordinators in 194 cases), 921 participations by Polish organisations (coordinators in 100 cases)

• Project priorities:

Poland more projects than NRW in ‘Space’, ‘Security’ and ‘Research Potential’

NRW more projects than Poland in ‘ICT’, ‘NMP’ and ‘International

Cooperation’

• 171 joint NRW-Polish projects with focus on ICT, NMP and Transport

• 438 participations by NRW universities, 356 by Polish universities

• 173.7 million € for NRW universities, 67.4 million € for our Polish counterparts

Source: ECORDA DatabaseStatus: October 2010


Example of FP7 Polish-NRW research projects (1)Title: JUMASTopic: “Judicial Management by Digital Libraries Semantics”(knowledge, content and information management, data retrieval in the area of law)Coordinator: RWTH Aachen UniversityPartners: 10, including ESAPROJEKT, Katowice

Area: Judicial, semanticsProgramme: FP7 – ICTType of project: Collaborative ProjectLaunch: 2008Duration: 30 monthsStatus: Completed Total project volume: € 3.83 millionEU grant: € 2.73 millionhttp: www.jumasproject.eu


Example of FP7 Polish-NRW research projects (2)

Title: TRANS REG NCPTopic: Coordination action to improve trans-national co-operation of NCPsCoordinator: IPPT PAN, WarsawPartners: 11, including DLR, Cologne

Area: Enhancing S&T-based developmentProgramme: FP7 – Regions of KnowledgeType of project: CSA-CA (Coordination Action)Launch: 2008Duration: 48 monthsStatus: Ongoing Total project volume: € 529,408EU grant: € 399,782http: www.transregncp.eu


Key requirements of a Regional Innovation Strategy (1)

A RIS must:

Have clear goals

Address the local situation

Motivate all target groups to participate

Have a framework of measurable operational criteria Be designed for long-term application yet also achieve short-term success Facilitate, initiate and support co-operation at all levels (local, regional, national and international, especially in the EU)


Key requirements of a Regional Innovation Strategy (2)

A RIS must:

Demonstrate and promote exemplary success cases, e.g. in print media and Internet, and above all through innovation prizes

Utilise, in adapted form if necessary, the many innovation support measures and good practices already existing in the EU

Centre on a central innovation support agency in the region which is known and accepted in the target group

Mobilise personal advisers with generalist knowledge rather than technical experts


General conclusions (1)

Against this background and ZENIT’s experience with SME, R&D and innovation policy since the mid 1980’s, the best practices are those which

are SME-oriented facilitate the realisation of innovationcreate competence networks and other business start-up initiatives at regional levelare integral parts of the regionalised structural policy to meet the challenges of the industrial change


General conclusions (2)

• The more regional structural change intensifies, the more regional innovation approaches are required

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are at the centre of structural change and have to anticipate and adapt to challenges that are occurring more and more rapidly

• In this respect, knowledge, know-how and entrepreneurship are becoming crucial aspects

• Thus regional innovation initiatives are becoming increasingly recognised as a valuable tool to foster economic development and regeneration


ContactZENIT GmbHBismarckstr. 2845470 Mülheim an der RuhrGermany

Tel.: +49 208 30004-0Email: [email protected]

What is a Good Practice? North Rhine-Westphalia ZENIT GmbH and the Enterprise Europe Network

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