The meeting, hosted by Lead Partner, Fomento San Sebastian, firstly addressed the different administrative and regulatory aspects of funding programme. The partner consortium agreement is finalised and all partners have previous Interreg Europe experience, making for a smoother kick off process.
From a ecoRIS3 delivery perspective, the meeting allocated special sessions to the Communucations and Dissemination Workpackage , as well as to the SWOT Analysis to be immediately undertaken by every partner.
The SWOT methodology will involve a series of structured interviews with stakeholders in every ecoRIS3 region. Partners, having completed their SWOTs, will later combine findings in each region into a comparative analysis of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS), in all of the partners' areas.
Each partner will shortly organize the first meetings of Regional Stakeholders Groups. These groups will include key actors in innovation, entrepreneurship and regional and local development
The ecoRIS3 Communication’s Strategy was also discussed and agreed.The project plans to have a high public profile and will use social media, as an effective tool in getting its messages out to a wide audience, not alone in partner countries, but throughout the European Union. eNewsletters will be a consistent feature of project dissemination and will cover a wide range of relevant RIS matters in all areas.
The kick- off meeting included two very interesting study visits. The first to San Sebastian's CEIT Laboratories, where the focus of research is very firmly placed on The Internet of Things. Partners had an opportunity to meet with CEIT researcers and to be briefed on work being undertaken to develop a range of sensors and remote sensing systems, which are essential to IOT future rollout.
A study visit also took place to the premises of Ikor Ltd., in the city surburbs. Ikor is a large electronic component manufacturer, with operations in Spain, Mexico and China. The company's Spanish management team have recently signed a cooperation agreement with Fomento San Sebastian, whereby company engineers will provide mentoring to emerging SMEs, who have innovative electronic products in development.