During the second phase of the project EcoRIS3, Vidzeme Planning Region has started to test activities of a developed Action plan for the promotion of innovation in the smart specialization areas in the region. Currently, entrepreneurs are selected to participate in the activity “Innovation project manager”, which was approved as a pilot action named “Innovation manager support program – test before implement” of Vidzeme Planning Region.
It is intended that the innovation project manager will practically analyse the needs of the companies to help to develop a more detailed plan for the implementation of a new and innovative products, services, or processes. Also, the innovation project manager will help to attract the missing competencies, as well as provide practical support in attracting funding.
Support is offered based on the research performed by Vidzeme Planning Region. During the development of the EcoRIS3 project Action plan, the representatives of the EcoRIS3 team in Vidzeme Planning Region met with entrepreneurs, analysing the business environment and the issues entrepreneurs face daily.
Discussions have shown that in many cases companies does not have enough time to manage innovation projects in their organisation, or knowledge of how to use, for example, the support of researchers to create a new product. At the same time, it was concluded that if an entrepreneur would have the opportunity to attract an industry professional who with various innovation management methods would purposefully promote the development of new product prototypes and further progress, project implementation would be more efficient.
At present, the need for support mechanisms for entrepreneurs is especially significant to reorient their services or find a new business approach due to issues created by the global pandemic.
One of the Action plan activities is launched for testing already in the summer – the Innovation Co-creation Lab - in which several entrepreneurs already are selected to participate.
Activities mentioned above both are Action plan activities within the ecoRIS3 project second phase. The first results of the activity “Innovation Co-creation Lab” are expected at the beginning of 2021, while the results of the pilot activity “Innovation project manager” can be expected in the summer of 2021 (August).
For further information contact Ieva Bīviņa , Communication manager, Vidzeme Planning Region [email protected]
