Good practice:

Contest for the Marshal of the Wielkopolska Region Award „i-Wielkopolska"

The aim of the contest is to promote regional enterprises which created innovative products/services and implemented them in practice and solutions (category "H₂ Wielkopolska"). There are 2 categories: 1) smart specializations in Wielkopolska („Bioresources and food for awarened consuments”, „Interiors of future”, „Industry of tomorrow”, „Specialized logistic processes”, „Development base on ICT”, „Modern medical technologies”) and 2) category "H₂ Wielkopolska" to promote solutions aimed at building a society of the future based on modern hydrogen technologies. The aim of the contest is to promote innovative companies, smart specialisations and build the Wielkopolska Brand.
Involved entities: companies from the Wielkopolska region, representatives of the science sector, business support institutions, representatives of the regional parliament, hydrogen platform.

The estimated budget - EUR 50 000. The budget includes the value of the prizes, a film promoting the companies and its broadcasting, statuettes and diplomas, the costs of the campaign promoting the contest in mass media. Team organising the contest: 2 employees.

Although the number of applications is not impressive (in years 2016-2018 – 90 ), new companies are applying to the contest, expanding the circle of entities promoted through smart specialisations to the benefit of the positive image of the region. The contest indirectly selects companies that are involved in other activities of the owner of good practice increasing their innovativeness, such as international fairs, forum for smart specializations, conferences.

The challenge is to reach innovative companies with information and an attractive message enough to encourage them to take part in the contest. The number of contests in the media space is large, and companies do not always see benefits in participating in this type of promotional activities.

This good practice could inspire regional and local authorities to reward efforts of entrepreneurs in their RIS3 priority areas. The contest is a chance to gain a prestigious award as well as resources for international promotion of the company's products. However, the idea of this contest also creates an opportunity for regional and local authorities to promote the idea of Smart Specialization on the local level, by awarding local entrepreneurs in specific priority areas. Furthermore, the award committee consists of representatives of business, academia and local authorities, which seems like an effective way to encourage the triple helix cooperation.