European networks and S3 partnerships come together to support Interregional Innovation Investments for European value chains
On May 29, 2018, the European Commission proposed, as part of the European Territorial Cooperation INTERREG regulation, a new INTERREG component 5 on Interregional Innovation Investments. This new component 5, financed at €970 MLN, aims to develop European value chains across Europe through two strands:
1) support for investments in interregional innovation projects and
2) support for the development of value chains in less developed regions.
This new component builds upon the work that is being carried out in the S3 Platforms with currently 180 regions registered (as per 28 May 2019, source http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/). Even more clearly, the two strands proposed by the European Commission illustrate the added value of this instrument for the whole of Europe. Also the component enables synergies with other EU programs like Horizon Europe and Digital Europe.
Although the European Parliament and the Council support the new instrument for Interregional Innovation Investments, both institutions have different opinions on where to locate it: respectively in the European Territorial Cohesion regulation or in the European Regional Development Fund.
European regions, interregional S3 partnerships and other innovation actors, including clusters and research organisations, jointly call upon both institutions to ensure that the component for Interregional Innovation Investments with at least its €970 MLN budget will be preserved in the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027. In order to enable the envisaged impact of the component, the signatories jointly call to preserve the following key elements irrespectively of its final regulatory location:
- Interregional nature: The main European added value and the main characteristic of the component is to cofinance Smart Specialisation driven common projects of different EU regions.
- Budget: €970 million for seven years is a starting point and an absolute minimum, bearing in mind the ambition of the component and the fact that it will be split in two strands.
- Central management: The management of the new instrument should allow swift allocation addressing effectively fast developing technologies and value chains, while putting regional actors at the core of its governance. It should moreover enable coordination in practice, resolve issues with state aid, capitalise on regulatory attempts to bring synergies in the next Multiannual Financial Framework and provide room for bottom-up processes.
- Openness to third countries: Based on mutual benefit, cooperation should be open to third country partners that share the European Union’s values.