When: September 30- October 1st, 2020
Where: Sofia
After 3 years of intensive inter-regional learning and 18 months of Action Plan implementation that applied into practice actions aiming at improving their regional R&D and innovation performance and SME’s competitiveness, InnoBridge project partners are ready to share their hands-on experience.
The final project conference Streamlining Public Support for SME Innovation in European Regions will aim to provide answers to questions such as How can we improve regional policies to support innovation and R&D? What measures can assure that R&D results are available to SMEs? How to raise and mobilize the existing skills and how to build skills for the future? How to seize the benefits of digitalization for improving the region’s innovative performance? What has proven to work: regulatory frameworks, access to finance, increasing entrepreneurial capacities, diminishing administrative burden on start-ups, or else?
The conference will bring together European political figures, practitioners, academia, policy makers, business community, intermediary organizations, civil society, and offers a platform to share best practices, to explore and discuss opportunities for streamlining public support for SME innovation.
It will offer:
- Insights into different stakeholder perspectives: managing authorities, universities, business community, local/regional authorities, structural funds beneficiaries;
- Expert and political views on the challenges of R&D use and commercialization, current policies and available tools and funding;
- Available data that can be used in improving policies and policy instruments;
- Concrete examples of actions implemented in the framework of the InnoBridge project and their proven impact.
- Lessons learnt and policy recommendations for the next programming period (2021 – 2027).
In case there are travel or gathering restrictions for this period, the conference will be conducted online.
