After more than 2 years of great cooperation, hard work, staff exchange and various ideas in “InnoBridge – bridging the innovation gap through converting R&D results into commercial success in a more effective and efficient way” Małopolska, likewise other partners of the project, concluded the Action Plan. The document of the Małopolska Action Plan is the effect of peer reviews, discussions with partners and ideas which were transferred as the good practices from the partners of the InnoBridge Project. During first phase of the project several meeting were organized with the aim of great preparation of the action plans. The second phase which is basically connected with the implementation process in on the very beginning and will finish on 2021.
The Małopolska Action Plan consists two actions which will be implemented in our region. Action Plan is intended to improve the Regional Operational Programme for the Małopolska Region, and thus to bring Małopolska from moderate innovator to strong innovator according the Regional Innovation Scoreboard by 2030. Action 1 in connected with improving access to EU funds. Thanks to impeccable cooperation with Tampere Region in that matter, we would like to improve procedures for the innovation projects. The idea behind that is to encourage the entrepreneurial sector to create innovative projects thanks to simpler process of applying for the financial support. All that abovementioned is in line with the InnoBridge partners recommendation for Małopolska on making bureaucracy less complicated and thus user friendly. Another component of action 1 is connected with adding brand new functionalities to the Małopolska on-line platform for innovation vouchers based on solutions applied in Tampere Region. The aim of the functionalities is to make the process of searching and selection of service providers far easier and more transparent for the Małopolska innovation vouchers applicants.
As far as Action 2 in concerned we decided to adopt the solution from Lower Austria. Action 2 is called ‘Proactive approach to entrepreneurs to stimulate innovation’ which is basically the core of the change. After process of analyzing Good Practices proposed by the project partners, we found the most valuable for the region is Lower Austrian Technology and Innovation Partners Programme that has been implemented there since 1979. The aim of the programme is to proactively stimulate and develop the innovative potential of enterprises thanks to tailored innovation services offered at companies premises. That programme opens up a new chapter of cooperation between the region and enterprises, as it is based on the entirely new approach of proactive identification of companies by the Małopolskie Centre of Entrepreneurship and on-site visits in companies to help them innovate through the network of experienced consultants. It is worth adding that the Małopolska Region has already started the process of implementation of that action.
Summing up, the whole project and especially the first phase, which is already behind the project partners, was a great success. The evidence of synergy between different partners, from different regions with different background and various ideas for the cooperation with entrepreneurial sector. All partner regions are very well prepared for the second phase of the project with a lot of fruitful concepts for improvement .
