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ispartof: Belgian Report on Science, Technology and Inovation (BRISTI) 2021 status: Published online

This article draws lessons from the level of development and governance systems of innovation policy in the thirteen European Union (EU) candidate countries concerned. In particular, the article addresses the question of whether the design and implementation of an innovation policy can only take place in mature market economies or whether innovation policy can be designed and implemented in the context of imperfect national innovation systems. It is argued that a variety of innovation policy governance models co-exist in the EU. Diversity is observed with regard to ministry- or agency-led policies, the degree of responsibility at regional level, and the strength of inter-ministerial co-ordination mechanisms. The authors conclude that there is no one-fits-all system of innovation governance. The degree of maturity in policy in the candidate countries is uneven, with Estonia, Hungary and Turkey appearing as the leading countries. Though with a number of caveats, the paper offers a positive response to the question if the candidate countries can learn from innovation policy developments in the EU. The main challenge for a successful benchmarking exercise in the innovation policy is to develop policy learning capabilities in the candidate countries. Članek se opira na izkušnje dosedanjega razvoja inovacijske politike in njenega izvajanja v trinajstih kandidatkah za članstvo v Evropski uniji (EU). Še posebej se posveča vprašanju, ali je oblikovanje in izvajanje inovacijske politike mogoče samo v zrelih, tržno usmerjenih gospodarstvih, ali pa je takšno politiko mogoče oblikovati in izvajati tudi v nepopolnih inovacijskih sistemih. Avtorja trdita, da v EU soobstaja vrsta različnih modelov upravljanja inovacijskih politik. Razlike je mogoče opaziti glede vodenja tovrstnih politik (ministrstvo ali posamezna agencija), stopnje odgovornosti na regionalni ravni in moči koordinativnih mehanizmov med ministrstvi. Na podlagi raziskanega sklepata, da ni univerzalnega modela upravljanja pri inovacijah. Tudi stopnja zrelosti politik držav kandidatk na tem področju je različna, pri čemer so največji napredek dosegle Estonija, Madžarska in Turčija. Kljub vsemu pa avtorja menita, da je mogoče z optimizmom odgovoriti na vprašanje, ali se države kandidatke lahko učijo iz izkušenj EU, če bodo le razvile politiko, ki bo takšno učenje tudi omogočila.

This study emerged from the strategic priorities outlined in the Roots for Further Growth strategy produced by the Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies Group [1], which aims to maximise the economic outputs of Scotland’s Forests and Fibre resources through the implementation of viable technologies, and to incentivise landowners in Scotland to grow trees for wood fibre production. Additionally, the strategy seeks to increase fibre recovery from existing harvesting operations and support innovation and new technologies throughout the wood supply chain and downstream industries. Roots for Further Growth highlights the great potential for the use and production of low embodied products in Scotland, including fibre-based materials from waste and recyclingof timber. On that basis, this study seeks to investigate the full potential of homegrown wood fibre for use as insulation products.

This report presents the main findings of the Impact Evaluation of NGI Trust project as well as an overview of key trends and challenges around privacy and trust-enhancing technologies. It also includes concluding remarks and recommendations that serve as a basis for future research and innovation actions. This report is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 825618

Publisher Copyright: © 2021. ArchiDOCT. All Rights Reserved. The white paper on “Intelligence and Co-creation in Smart Specialisation Strategies” outlines some key conclusions from the Online S3 project, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission. The Online S3 project has produced an online platform composed of software applications and roadmaps that facilitate the design and implementation of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Using a baseline set of methodologies for strategy design, Online S3 is advancing the understanding of RIS3 as a place-based and evidence-driven innovation policy, relying on large datasets and software for user engagement, co-creation and collective intelligence in policy design. In this white paper, the core building blocks of RIS3 are presented, as they appear in EU documents and related literature, such as ex ante conditionalities, stakeholder engagement, specialisation by diversification, entrepreneurial discovery, policy co-design, monitoring and assessment. This white paper also discusses weaknesses of the current period and what can be done better in the near future; thus, puts RIS3 in retrospect and prospect for 2021-2027. At the same time, it looks into critical dimensions for the next stage of RIS3, focusing on how strategies can be improved by datasets and software, enabling the implementation of complex methods; thus, facilitating collective intelligence and co-creation of solutions, which both are able to usher a transition from the triple to quadruple helix model of collaboration. Finally, the annex presents a short description of the 28 software applications and the 4 roadmaps hosted on the Online S3 Platform, which enable the use of datasets and sophisticated methodologies by policy-makers.

The report compiles the third round call documents as published on 28 February 2020 via the NGI_TRUST wiki (https://wiki.geant.org/display/NGITrust/3rd+Open+Call+NGI_TRUST) and the NGI4ALL web pages (https://www.ngi.eu/opencalls/ngi_trust-open-call/)

The Baltic Institute of Finland contracted EFIS Centre to support the methodology development for a high-level interregional smart specialisation (S3) value chain (VC) mapping in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) for the area of circular bioeconomy (CBE). Drawing on the questionnaire (circulated for completion to 16 BSR regions from 7 BSR countries) as well as on secondary sources, this report provides analytical insights on value chains in a selected focus area and fosters motivation for the mobilisation of BSR interregional effort in S3 collaboration. Value chain mapping is defined here as an analytical and visual tool that helps understanding how a particular innovation ecosystem is organised spatially, as well as size wise and direction wise. Overall, the lack of investment and collaboration mechanisms between key matching infrastructures (e.g. biorefineries) appears to be the most serious challenge in CBE development as identified by the BSR regions. Nevertheless, it seems that it is moderately difficult to mobilise financial support for investments/projects in the area of CBE, notably for smaller companies in earlier stage development. These answers may suggest the need for a more targeted funding line to support the emergence of stronger collaboration mechanisms among the key CBE infrastructures. The challenges related to slow establishment of a stimulatory framework for the new bio-based industries which allows introduction of products from new value chains based on biomass, waste and side stream conversion and issues related to new skills for CBE implementation are noteworthy aspects to take into account in the design of inter-regional support measures. Furthermore, the reality of the region is one of fragmented markets in which CBE faces issues related to the economies of scale. Hence, improving overall supporting conditions for CBE development in the BSR should be a priority. Moreover, the survey analysis suggests that the needs for new data and their better overviews are increasingly prioritised given the complexity of CBE value chains. The mapping of specialist expertise in relevant technologies, as well as identification of leading firms across CBE value chains in BSR are particularly highlighted. Gaining more fine-grained data and better intelligence on the complex cross-sectoral field like CBE should be supported by joint BSR collaboration mechanisms. Only a minority of the BSR regions seem to have placed an emphasis on digitalisation as an accelerator of CBE. New data and digital opportunities may aid the improvement of value chains by helping to identify the missing links or potentially beneficial new links e.g. new products emerging from biomass that was previously defined as waste or new industrial symbiosis connections among previously unrelated industries. Data generated from digitalisation is a promising avenue of how to foster the interlink of the highly complex CBE value chains across the diverse BSR regions., Study funded by the INTERREG Baltic Sea Region Programme (2014-20) project BSR S3 Ecosystem. See https://projects.interreg-baltic.eu/projects/bsr-s3-ecosystem-214.html

This paper closes a gap in the literature on smart cities relating to the metrics of future Internet-based developments. It achieves this by presenting the findings of a case study that overcomes the methodological shortcomings that otherwise exist in the metrics of future Internet-based developments and sets the stage for the renewable energies that play out as an urban and regional innovation. The case study serves to demonstrate how getting beneath the headlines that surround claims made about the metrics of future Internet-based developments provide the measures needed to bottom them out and verify whether the renewable energies, which play out as an urban and regional innovation, are not only clean enough for the growth this generates to sustain an ecological modernization, but also sufficiently inclusive for climate neutral adaptations to be just.

The purpose of this project is to provide evidence of the potential contribution offsite construction offers to address the challenges faced by the affordable housing sector in Scotland. Funding for the project is drawn from the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise.\ud The project is made up of three components:\ud a research project mapping the benefits of offsite construction and the barriers confronting the sector’s potential contribution to affordable housing in Scotland;\ud a study to understand the current and future capacity of offsite construction to overcome these barriers and for the sector to increase the contribution it makes to the provision of affordable housing in Scotland;\ud a series of co-design workshops with key stakeholders to consider how offsite construction can overcome the barriers the sector currently faces and realize the potential contribution it can make to the future of affordable housing in Scotland.

The Baltic Institute of Finland contracted EFIS Centre to support the methodology development for a high-level interregional smart specialisation (S3) value chain mapping in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). BSR was the first macro-region to adopt a common strategy, in 2009, the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). The BSR comprises eight countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Norway, Belarus and Russia are also close collaborators with the BSR countries. The value chain mapping exercise is supporting the Interreg BSR Smart Specialisation Ecosystem ‘Platform’ project, which aims to build capacity across the macro-region for innovation-focused interregional collaboration. This study contributes to two key objectives: Provide analytical insights on value chains in a selected focus area and foster motivation for the mobilisation of BSR interregional effort in S3 collaboration; Provide an outline manual with key steps to take in undertaking a macro-regional value chain mapping exercise across any sector or domain targeted at BSR innovation/ S3 actors. The approach to high-level value chain mapping that was piloted for CBE is experimental. Due to the time and resource constraints underpinning the Interreg project the pilot analysis performed by EFIS Centre adopted a ‘fast-track’ approach. The main objective was to identify the current possibilities for carrying out such an exercise and the existing gaps in data coverage. The pilot exercise is intended to trigger further thinking and input from the BSR regions and innovation actors concerning additional market-led information which could be added to the mapping effort. This guidance manual draws lessons from the pilot exercise and provides an outline method for high-level value chain mapping, guiding the reader through the three main stages in order to enable reproduction of similar exercises in the future. The conclusions bring together overarching recommendations for the value chain methodology, with a focus on those aspects that may bring the highest value added to S3 policy making – both at regional and macro-regional levels.

The report compiles the second round call documents as published on 1 October 2019 via the NGI_TRUST wiki (https://wiki.geant.org/display/NGITrust/2nd+Open+Call+NGI_TRUST) and the NGI4ALL web pages (https://www.ngi.eu/opencalls/ngi_trust-open-call/)