RESEARCH AND INNOVATION : REGIONS TO PLAY KEY ROLE IN INDUSTRIAL RENAISSANCE.

The Commission counts on regions to reindustrialise Europe through the smart specialisation strategy, a concept not yet implemented

Achieving growth by focusing on regional strengths and making smarter use of public investments in research and innovation is the leitmotiv of the smart specialisation strategy put forward by the European Commission. On paper, regions are offered a lot of opportunities, but their approach to innovation needs to be updated.

"Regions need to have a holistic view of innovation and see it as a system," said Richard Tuffs, director of the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN), at a conference organised by the Assembly of European Regions (AER), on 17 March. "Innovation has to be seen as a range of activities and actors joining up as a system. Regions do not innovate. They create a healthy innovation ecosystem and bring all actors around the table: industry, research, innovation agencies and governments." Tuffs thinks regions should especially drive pre-commercial procurement to build up a demand-led innovation cycle.

From the Commission's side, Eliana Garces Tolon, from DG Enterprise, insisted on a change of strategy. "We need to get away from the ad hoc' approach, which consists of giving money here and there when regions or companies are in trouble." Regions, she thinks, need to adopt a comprehensive approach: decide on what business they want to attract...