Timioara, March 13, 2013 West Region - Towards a Smart Specialisation Strategy

WEST REGION – OVERVIEW 4 counties Surface: sqm Population: Graduates: Enrolled students: Regional GDP 51,6% from EU 27 average GDP: 12, 04 bil. Euro SMEs: Export: 5,2 bil. Euro ILO Unemployment Rate : 3,7%

WEST REGION – COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES Regional Economy growing region; traditional industrial area; business locations; clustering Strategic location border area; TEN T Network; international airports High Quality of Human Resources young; good coverage of all qualification levels; diversity and multiculturality Quality of Life good cost of living; tourism; unique natural elements; rich natural resources Advanced Services Costumers services; Headquarter for multinational company

WEST REGION - first Romanian Region that developed RIS Priority set up after 2 years of consultation and debate: questionaire to SMSs - 50 interviews to research units - 25 tehnologic audits International Partener: Tehnological Institute Aragon International Consultant: Infyde, Basque Country Pillot projects from RIS : - Tehimpuls, - Automotivest cluster, - ICT Cluster.

General Objective Speeding up the economic development of the West Region by integrating innovation and knowledge into the public policies and the current activity of the enterprises, in order to increase the competitiveness of innovative products and services on the global market – SECOND RIS FOR WEST REGION

RIS strategic axes: 1.Supporting the innovation infrastructure, which generates added value in terms of RDI products/solutions/technologies 1.Supporting innovation in enterprises, also relying on their internationalization 1.Promoting the innovation culture at regional level 3 horizontal themes: 1. Use of instruments that are specific to the information society 2. Human resources 3. Eco-innovation

West Region starts to develop a new RIS ( ) for smart specialisation, in parallel with the new RDP Starting points: Recommendations from Peer Review event (Sevilla, Jan. 31, 2012) Input from Fresh project External expertise from the World Bank S3 CONTEXT IN WEST REGION Evaluating regional economy competitiveness: - Trends - Draw backs factors Sectorial study cases: -Inovative potential -Smart specialisation niches

SMART SPECIALIZATION STRATEGY Regions in EU that are preparing S3

Organizer: Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Subject: The S3 Guide and Peer Discussion as a step towards S3 Strategies. Four European regions was invited to present their work on regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation. Peer review: The Basque Region, Friesland, Nord Pas de Calais, West Region. Participants: 15 European regions as critical friends Mode of operation: Presentation + feedback + discussions Place: Seville, PEER REVIEW WORKSHOP

Recommendations from feedback report (in order to design of a RIS3): Look at the pattern of investment in the past, identifying the areas where projects were concentrated, and then assess whether they actually generated economic growth. Select the most successful areas and see whether it is still likely they can generate growth or there might be other emerging areas where growth is more likely to occur. The development of the economic sectors are interdependent and that it requires both individual approach, but also to approach them in a close relationship to understand the possible input to the smart specialisation. PEER REVIEW WORKSHOP

Recommendations from feedback report (in order to design of a RIS3): A key element is to define as narrowly as possible the activities and domains where the region can develop a distinctive innovation profile. New S3 should to be concentrate to more detail priorities and to have a more deep investigation of each economic sector. Indicators and analyses are needed as a means to assessing the current status and potential of the regional economy (allowing to detect actual and potential critical mass or emerging agglomeration phenomenon); The dynamics of the entrepreneurial environment should be investigated as well, as entrepreneurship might need to be explicitly supported. PEER REVIEW WORKSHOP

Starting from: Europa 2020 Strategy Fifth Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion EU Budget - Multiannual Financial Framework EU Cohesion Policy : legislative proposals Romanian Agreement for period West RDA prepare an applications for OPTA: Services for increasing competitiveness and smart specialisation in West Region – agreement with World Bank S3 CONTEXT IN WEST REGION

COMPETITIVENESS ASSESSMENT OF THE WEST REGION Four stages: 1.Performance assessment of the region through its firms – Productivity and efficiency – Export performance (entry, survival, growth, sophistication) 2.Diagnostics: drivers of firm performance – Firm characteristics (size, FDI v domestic) – Nature of regional value chains – Supply side determinants (skills, logistics, regulatory environment, etc.) 3.Territorial assessment: understanding the region-specific factors shaping performance – Endowments and institutions – Scale and agglomeration – Connectivity and spillovers – Productive system: embeddedness and relatedness 4.Identifying policy measures and interventions to enhance competitiveness

SMART SPECIALIZATION SECTOR STUDIES Objectives: – Case studies will be prepared for key sectors: Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the sector’s productive system Identify smart specialization niches within target sectors Identify opportunities arising at the level of business and RTDI Key sectors of regional economy analyzed: ICT, automotive, manufacturing, agro-food, constructions, energy, tourism 14

Key decisions for optimal impact of the regional innovation strategy for smart specialisation: – Correlation between planning and programming documents at regional and national level; – Innovation as regional priority; – RDAs as regional innovation policy-makers; – Regional funds for innovation; – RDAs as regional fund managers; – Mechanisms for monitoring at regional and national level. S3 CONTEXT IN WEST REGION

West Regional Development Agency 5, Proclamatia de la Timisoara st., , Timisoara, Romania Tel ; Fax web. THANK YOU!