InnoCoop – Enhancing policy instruments fostering innovation-oriented business cooperation of rural SMEs

The InnoCoop project addresses the issue depopulating rural areas, which makes a dominant part of the European regions, that are characterised by low innovation capacity and value added. This issue is also in the focus of the EU’s cohesion policy.

Overall objective of the project is to improve the generation of value added in rural areas, through improvement of the efficiency of policies, in line with the place-based approach and the quadruple helix model.

The project partnership is composed of dominantly rural regions, with similar challenges, however with various features. Remote rural peripheries (Somogy, North-East Greece, Sicily, Podlaskie) suffer from lack of capital, peripheries around major urban centres (Kaunas, Bačka) suffer from the backwash effect caused by the nearby large cities and national centres.

In terms of instruments, besides a general regional instrument (Somogy, Hungary), two EU-financed jobs & growth programmes are targeted that are implemented on regional level (Greece, Poland). National SME development instruments are represented by Kaunas (Lithuania) and RDA Bačka (Serbia, as a candidate country). Moreover, one EARDF instrument is added, from Sicily (Italy), with significant rural development relevance.

The project’s main logic is built around the two phases: exchange of experience and follow-up. After a situation analysis a methodology will be developed, in order to segment the practice elements along the sectoral aspect (‘traditional’ and ‘R&D intensive’) and the institutional aspect (innovation governance, networking, financing). In each period a live project workshop and regional working group meetings will be organised. The follow-up period is devoted to the transfer of practice elements.

Policy objective: “Europe closer to citizens” (PO5)

Partners:

• Entrepreneurs’ Centre of Somogy County Foundation (Hungary);
• CROST Nonprofit Ltd. (Hungary);
• Regional Development Fund of East Macedonia and Thrace (Greece);
• Kaunas Science and Technology Park, Public Institution (Lithuania);
• Regional Department of Productive Activities of the Sicilian Region (Italy);
• CESIE ETS (Italy);
• Regional Development Agency Bačka Ltd. Novi Sad (Serbia);
• Podlaskie Voivodeship (Poland).

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