News

Conference “EU Research and Innovation Infrastructures: a forward agenda for cross-regional collaboration and access”

On 22nd November 2018 in Brussels (Belgium) INNO INFRA SHARE project will organise a conference “EU Research and Innovation Infrastructures: a forward agenda for cross-regional collaboration and access”. It will allow us to bring together the INNO INFRA SHARE partner regions, the wider EU expert community (including institutions, associations and innovation players from the “supply” and “demand” sides of the research and innovation infrastructure (RII) landscape). The conference will discuss how RIIs are operating across the EU, their further potential in opening access and their contribution to EU innovation performance and economic growth. For the regions involved in the project, this is also very important for their local economies.

At this midway point, the project team is seeking to both inform colleagues about the project’s importance and to learn from ideas and experiences of others in the area of sharing of and access to RIIs. This conference offers an opportunity to share our collaboration efforts across 8 EU regions and our project’s mid-way progress (based on a 4-year timescale of 2017-2020). We are keen to engage a wide range of EU partners and stakeholders in this discussion and to reflect on the role of this important topic for the post-2020 period.

The conference will be moderated by Alison Hunter, Director Economic and Public Policy Consultancy (EPPC). Among the speakers and panelists are Frédéric Sgard from the Global Science Forum Secretariat, OECD, Muriel Attané from EARTO, Maria Moragues-Cavanos at DG RTD, Sonia Pazos at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, INL, Wim de Kinderen, International Project Manager at the Brainport Eindhoven EU Office, in Brussels, Pierre Padilla at N-ABLE, Carl Malm from Innovation Skåne and Fredrik Melander from Science Village in Sweden, among other participants.

The event will have two panel discussions:

1. “Facilitating the use of RIIs through interregional collaboration and shared access.”

2. “Improving policies to foster better access to research and innovation infrastructures.”

In addition, the conference will provide insights into current practices and share views on future policy perspectives which can support this agenda, not least in its alignment with the EU’s future innovation ambitions.

This event is on invitation only.

About INNO INFRA SHARE

INNO INFRA SHARE, led by ASTER (Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy) is an Interreg Europe programme 2014-2020 project set up in response to the increasing demand of the SME sector of setting up an easier and more effective collaboration framework with RIIs. Companies would like to use the RIIs, because expensive research facilities (such as equipment and laboratories) are often not affordable. Innovation is essential for the progress of these companies and the progress of the regional economy. The mutual learning will contribute to the design and implementation of action plans for each participating region to improve regional policy instruments performances and results.

For more information please visit INNO INFRA SHARE website: https://www.interregeurope.eu/innoinfrashare/