On November 25th, the third regional TraCS3 stakeholder meeting was held at the Institute Labour and Economy in Bremen. Regional stakeholders from regional government authorities, politics, regional research institutions, transfer organizations and regional businesses learnt about good practice examples of regional innovation infrastructures analyzed in the regions of Groningen (Netherlands), West Flanders (Belgium) and Tampere (Finland).
A focus was put on approaches to support cooperation between regional actors, especially from industry and research. The TraCS3 team from Bremen presented examples which allowed for access to cooperatively used innovation infrastructures (such as laboratories, testing facilities, etc.). Also, they introduced the "Smart Tampere" program, which transforms the city of Tampere into a testing platform for innovation development, combining the strengths and objectives of the region with the cross-sectional topic of digitization.
Subsequently, the participants discussed transferabilities of the presented examples for the state of Bremen. Among the topics discussed was the question to what extent regional culture and regulatory frameworks may pose obstacles to innovation support and openness of infrastructures, and if the maintaining of innovation infrastructure should generally be considered a public task. Most of the participants agreed that there is a need for open space and facilities to promote innovation and entrepreneurial activity in Bremen.
