November 12, 2018 - In early November, the S3martMed kick-off meeting was held in Lyon, the new 2-year European initiative that the 5 partners - Biowin (Wallonia), BioPmed (Piedmont), GAPR - Medsilesia (Upper Silesia), BioRegio STERN (Baden Württemberg) and Lyonbiopole (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - will develop. Coordinated by Lyonbiopole, the goal is to participate in the implementation of the Smart Specialisation policies with Regions and encourage future investments in medical technologies.

THE CLUSTER PARTNERS’ AMBITION IS TO FOSTER EUROPEAN COLLABORATIONS OF THEIR COMMUNITY AND SMEs’ MEMBERS

The 5 partner clusters of S3martMed (Biowin, BioPmed, GAPR - Medsilesia, BioRegio STERN and Lyonbiopole) are active members of the S3 Industrial Modernisation Platform dedicated to medical technologies launched by the European commission and the Region in 2017*. They decided to implement this new project in order to accelerate the emergence of interregional collaborations initiated within the platform, in particular between technology centers and SMEs.

As a first step, the objective is to offer meeting opportunities through the organisation of B2B and Clusters to Clusters networking events, at inter-regional level, involving SMEs, technology centers and key players from partner regions, and beyond. Indeed, all networking activities will be open and shared with the 24 European regions and clusters involved in the S3 Medtech platform. Two partnering events are already scheduled for 2019 and 2020.

In a second step, once the interregional collaborations are identified between the stakeholders, the ambition will be to support these collaborations in their maturation until the definition of investment and financing scenarios and with the regional authorities. The identification of common territorial development strategies and the alignment of practices (for example, evaluation criteria and methodologies, publication schedule of funding calls, etc.) will constitute the "glue" that will enable future multi-regional initiatives.

About the S3 Industrial Modernisation Platform for Medical Technologies Since 2017, 24 regions have joined the S3 Platform. As part of this platform, led by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Lombardy’s regional authorities, clusters and technological research centers meet regularly to identify collaboration opportunities that could be supported within the framework of Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies. The platform is assisted today by the Re-Confirm consortium to define future investment projects.