The closing conference of the BRIDGES project was organised on 10.12.2020. Unfortunately it was on line only. Thirty three persons registered for the event. All partners contributed. Contributions were also made by the BRIDGES Interreg Europe Policy Officers and representatives of the Joint Research Centre (Lagging Regions project).

The closing conference marks the conclusion to a longtime effort, which started on 10.2.2016 when the project was approved by the Interreg Europe programme and will formally end on 31.3.2021. 

The BRIDGES project focus is RIS3 governance. The project asks an old question, interpreted into a renewed reference framework (RIS3): how and under what conditions, can research-to-business cooperation between advanced and less advanced regions lead to win-win results and types of development approaches? To answer this question, the project strategy was to identify compatible development strengths between and among the regions and, based on them, to proceed with matchmaking activities. The implementation process led to review deeper the issue of mutually beneficial co-operations between strong and less strong innovation regions. 

The closing conference, through the inputs of the participants and the progress that was made in actual policy impact in the partner regions, contributed further to these issues. The discussion during the event identified issues that might lead to new initiatives related to the delivery of the RIS3 and interregional exchanges. The list of findings is available through this link.

All contributions made during the closing conference are available as follows: