The IRE Knowledge Transfer Working Group

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Regional strategies and policies to support
KNOWLEGE TRANSFER
The IRE Knowledge Transfer Working
Group Regional Strategies and Policies to
Support Knowledge Transfer
Regional Development Agency West Romania 19th -
20th February 2006, Madrid
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West Region - Romania

• West Region Romania, Main Geographical and
  economic data
• 32.034 Km2, 1.939.514 inhabitants, capital at
  Timisoara, Timis county
• Key industrial sectors Electronics,
  Machine-tools and Equipments, Agrofood,
• Wood processing industry, Agriculture, Services,
  IT Industry, Automotive
• Nr. of enterprises 37 623
• Main university centres Timisoara, Arad, Resita
  and Hunedoara
• Education entities, research centres,
  laboratories National Research and
• Development Institute for Welding and Material
  Testing - ISIM Timisoara, the
• main research units that function in the West
  Region are affiliated to the
• Multidisciplinary Research Association from the
  Western area of Romania, with
• its headquarters in Timisoara (ACM-V)
• Regional research eg
• Nb of regional research centres 5

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West Region - Romania

• Main university and education facilities
• West University of Timisoara, Eftimie Murgu
  University Resita, Aurel
• Vlaicu Arad University, Politehnica University
  of Timisoara, Petrosani
• University, USAMVB Timisoara, Engineering Faculty
  Hunedoara
• Nr. of innovative companies 354 companies in
  2004
• Business incubator, technoparks, clusters etc
• Timisoara Industrial Parc, Arad Industrial Area,
  Curtici-Arad Free Area,
• Hunedoara Industrial Park, Industrial Park UTA,
  Timisoara Business
• and Software Incubator, Business and Technologic
  Aurel Vlaicu-IT
• Incubator

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Regional innovation policy in West Region

• Regional innovation policy
• Context (Regional Innovation System within West
  Region)
• At the level of the knowledge and infrastructure
  basis there is a relatively superior endowment
  taking into account the Romanian context 12
  public and private universities, 120 research
  units
• Key problem interconnection and use of the
  existent resources within the Regional Innovation
  System in the direct benefit of the business
  environment
• Regional Innovation System is composed by
  companies and business groups including public
  regional and local authorities, organizations of
  the business people, capital, financing sources,
  intermediaries, syndicates, education
  institutions, scientific and technological
  infrastructure
• Priorities and objectives
• AREA 1 Development of the innovation and
  technological transfer support structure in order
  to valorise the research activity for the benefit
  of the enterprises.
• Priority 1-To create innovation and technological
  transfer support infrastructures at the regional
  level.
• Priority 2-To structure the research/development/i
  nnovation offer in the region with a view to
  adapting it to the demands of the business
  environment

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Regional innovation policy in West Region

• AREA 2 To stimulate the initiation of
  innovative projects within enterprises
• Priority 1-To promote structural changes within
  enterprises, based on innovation, technological
  development and information
• Priority 2-To enhance enterprises
  competitiveness through investments in
  research/development/innovation and improvement
  of professional competences.
• Priority 3-To strengthen the regional business
  environment by promoting the sectors with a
  special development potential.
• AREA 3 Qualification of human resources so they
  can meet the ever changing demands on the labour
  market
• Priority 1-To strengthen the continuous formation
  centres/units already existing in the region and
  to create new structures, where the present
  labour market requests it.
• Priority 2-To correlate the high school,
  post-graduate, vocational and university
  education process with the demands for
  specialists and with the skills necessary for the
  alignment to the European Union standards.

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Regional innovation policy in West Region

• AREA 4 Promoting the innovation culture at the
  regional level
• Priority 1
• To set up actions of promoting and disseminating
  the innovation culture at the west regional
  level.
• Priority 2
• To create a regional environment opportune for
  innovation, technological development and direct
  foreign investments.
• Design and implementation
• The project was divided into three successive
  stages
• Stage 0, focusing mainly on the establishment of
  a management structure
• with extended regional participation.
• Stage 1, which laid stress on the analysis of the
  regional enterprises needs, the comparison with
  the regional technology and the forecast
  regarding innovation transfer.
• Stage 2, with the aim of developing and
  implementing a Regional Action Plan, which should
  approach the identified deficits.

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Regional innovation policy in West Region

• Actors
• A large regional partnership the public
  administration, chambers of commerce,
• education and research institutions, companies
  active in the innovation field,
• SMEs, but also of foreign partners
• Duration
• 32 months, 2001-2004
• Expected results
• The Strategic Document elaborated within this
  stage represents the main
• outcome, as well as the establishment of a system
  and of some implementation
• structures for pilot actions, monitoring,
  assessment, and transborder
• cooperation.

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Key Knowledge Transfer Issues in West Region

• Knowlege transfer aspect /maturity
• KT role in the RIS (how the KT is positioned
  towards RIS)
• Inter-regional co-operation and transfer of
  experience are at the core of entire
• project.
• Main initiatives/programme/activities
• This included visits to the EU partner regions,
  visit programmes for other RIS
• NAC regions, participation in activities
  organised by the RITTS network
• secretariat as well as research on best-practice
  in innovation transfer with
• Europe.
• Justify choices made regarding KT structures and
  approaches
• Inter-regional know-how transfer was formalised
  by a Reference Panel,
• composed of representatives from the partner
  regions and the international
• Process Consultants

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Key Knowlege Transfer Issues in West Region

• Overview of the regional KT strategy
• Support infrastructure
• Techimpulse-Regional Centre for Innovation and
  Technological Transfer which
• is an offshoot of the Regional Innovation
  Strategy
• Policy tools
• As a general objective, Techimpulse aims to
  stimulate the regional economy
• and to enhance the competitiveness capacity of
  the regional enterprises
• through promotion of innovation and technological
  development, by means of
• primarily structuring the regional innovation and
  technology market
• Coordination of the activities
• The service package of Techimpulse will target,
  in the first stage
• Innovation development and commercialization
  assistance
• Support for launching and organizing
  collaborative projects between companies and RTDI
• Awareness raising on Innovation and technology
  development

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Key Knowlege Transfer Issues in West Region

• Communication
• Management and results evaluation
• Acting as a regional interface, Techimpulse
  envisages strategic links with the
• regional stakeholders.
• Resources
• Human
• Techimpulse is a joint project of the West
  Regional Development Agency, the
• Association for Multidisciplinary Research in
  West Romania, Aurel Vlaicu
• University in Arad, Politehnica University of
  Timisoara, West University of
• Timisoara, Banat University of Agricultural
  Sciences and Veterinary Medicine,
• and the Timisoara Branch of the Romanian
  Association of Engineers.
• Financial
• the funds needed are coming from registration
  taxes of the
• members, donations, sponsorships, consultancy and
  specialised technical
• assistance, transmission of the IPR, other
  sources

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Governance and Financial Issues for Innovation
in West Region

• The Governance Structures of Innovation and
  Knowledge Transfer in Romania
• The Romanian Innovation and Knowledge Transfer
  System has still a rather centralized
  architecture.
• The main institution for the management of
  innovation is the National Authority for
  Scientific Research. NASR is subordinatted to the
  Romanian Ministry for Education and Research.
  NASR was established with the mission to act as
  mission to act as the executive manager of the
  Romanian government's decision to rapidly
  increase the public support for RTD towards the
  Lisbon "Three Percents for RTD" goal.
• Recent Steps towards a multi-layered governance
  of innovation in Romania
• Following the completion of the First Regional
  Innovation Strategy in Romania by the Region
  West, at this moment other five out of eight
  Romanian Regions are in process of elaborating
  their own Regional Innovation Strategies.

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Governance and Financial Issues

• Financing of Innovation and Knowledge Transfer
  through several national and european programmes
• INFRATECH is a national programme managed by the
  SANR for sustaining innovation infrastructures
  and technological transfer. It represents the
  main instrument for supporting the creation and
  development of innovation and technological
  transfer oriented institutions \(scientific and
  technologic parks, technological and business
  incubators, technology transfer centers,
  technology information centers and also offices
  of liaison
• IMPACT is an annual national programme designed
  as a support instrument for the absortion of
  Structural Funds in Romania. It offers a variety
  of support services to organizations engaged in
  the preparation of projects for the Structural
  Funds.
• EXCELLENCY RESEARCH PROGRAMME CEEX  encourages
  the co-operation among Romanian research entities
  in order to increase the quality of research and
  the impact of technology transfer and innovation

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Governance and Financial Issues

• The Sectorial Operational Plan Growth of
  Economic Competitiveness
• This program will support the growth of
  competitiveness in enterprises. In the period
  2007-2013 it will mobilize 3.5 billion Euro
  (Community funds plus the appropriate national
  co-financing) in order to reach its objectives.
• The programme has six main axes, and two of them
  have a strong innovation and knowledge transfer
  dimension Axis I Development of an Innovative
  Productive System (1005,47 m euro) and Axis II
  RTDI for Competitiveness (736, 73 m Euro)
• The Regional Operational Programme
• The ROP will be the main instrument for the
  financing of regional development in Romania in
  the period 2007-2013. The total amount of money
  allocated to ROP is 3.72 billion Euro. Out of its
  six priority axes, one (Axis III) is focused on
   Support for the development of regional and
  local business environment . It will finance the
  establishment of regional and local business
  inftrastructures, the rehabilitation of
  industrial sites and the support of
  entrepreneurial initiatives for the development
  of micro-entreprises at local and regional level

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Recommendations

• Summary of lessons learnt
• The Regional Innovation Strategy of the West
  Region, Romania 2005-2008
• stands for the basis of an innovation policy at
  the regional level, a contribution
• to the innovation policy at the national level,
  as well as for the commitment of
• the West Region to become involved in the
  European debates in this field.
• Issues for the future
• The Regional Innovation Strategy of the West
  Region, Romania 2005-2008
• represents the regions commitment for the
  continuation of the process and the
• integration of the innovation policy within the
  pre-adhesion instruments of
• planning and programming and of the Structural
  Funds aimed to the Romania
• regions in present, respectively after the
  adhesion to the European Union in
• 2007