RITTS – East Lombardy Optimization of the Innovation System: New ways for a Network supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). A Bottom-Up Approach for the East Lombardy area Regione Lombardia Unione Europea Provincia di Mantova Provincia di Cremona Provincia di Brescia Provincia di Bergamo

RITTS – East Lombardy The Area East Lombardy includes the provinces of Mantua, Brescia, Cremona and Bergamo with a significantly high number of SMEs High rates of specialization (Textile-Garment, Metalworking, Mechanical Equipment Manufacture, Electric Equipment Manifacture) Population: 2,717,283 Active population: 1,150,000 (42.3%) Total Firms: 206,037 Manifacturing Industries: 40,839 Employees: 877,167 Manifacturing Employees: 426,830 (48.7%)

RITTS – East Lombardy The Aims of the Ritts East Lombardy a)The revision of local infrastructure systems devoted to the technological innovation transfer b)The implementation of a stable network among the following three levels: a) government and research centres; b) local agencies (within the industrial clusters) and c) some very innovative district firms c)The organization of expert innovators inside the local agencies with a role of mediator between demand and supply d)The removal of barriers to innovation through a requalification of communication languages among the institutions e)Starting pilot project experiences through a chain of reaction which extends the innovation process to an increasingly high number of firms

RITTS – East Lombardy The fragmentary Innovation System In short, within these industrial clusters, the firms do not have the appropriate conditions for the exploitation of synergy and cooperation

RITTS – East Lombardy Programming Strategic Actions (Key "Axes" in the East Lombardy) AP1Support and coordination Actions for a Network of qualified Operators in order to optimize the innovation infrastructures AP2Development of the Interaction Junctions within the local districts and the productive specialization areas AP3Promotion of Innovative Financial Services supporting the strategic innovation AP4Support for high risk strategic innovation with special public funds AP5Promotion of Training Activities on innovation within the firms

RITTS – East Lombardy Approach to the Innovation Transfer For every District and specialized SME groups Community building: This is the definition phase. It is useful to individualize the available subjects and Insitutions leading to the constitution of the Interaction Junction. Networking activities within and outside the district are essential. Constitution of the Interaction Junction: This is the strategic phase. It is fundamental to individualize the main items: communication and conversation process, communication languages, supply and demand of innovation, etc. Projects catalog: It is the tangible result of the common activities within the Interaction Junctions among the firms demanding and the research centre and universities offering innovation.

RITTS – East Lombardy The "Interaction Junctions" INTERACTION JUNCTIONS Optimized flows and interaction junctions within the industrial clusters Current flows of information for innovation and technology transfer INTERACTION JUNCTIONS DISTRICT FIRMS (INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER) Innovative District Firms Local District Agency (Lumetel, Cril, ecc.) National Research Centres (Universities, Laboratories, etc.) TODAY TOMORROW

RITTS – East Lombardy The "Interaction Junctions" within the Ritts East Lombardy FINAL OBJECTIVES Creation of a permanent network among subjects Continuous monitoring of the district - needs - evolution - trends Feasibility of the projects coming from the Junction Project development Optimization of the information transfer

RITTS – East Lombardy Some "Interaction Junctions" within the Ritts East Lombardy

RITTS – East Lombardy ACTIONS AND MEASURES COMING OUT FROM THE RITTS EAST LOMBARDY PROJECT ACTIONSMEASURES 1. Support and coordination Actions for a Network of qualifiedOperato rs in order to optimize the innovation infrastructures. A1.1. Establishment and maintenance of the specialized Network formed by espert animators of the Strategic Innovation. A1.2. Development of programmed spin-off and innovative start-up (even with firms Incubators). A1.3 Development of a check plan to control the information flows structures. A1.4. Continuation of the participation at the European Innovation Thematic Networks, initially developed by the Ritts East Lombardy Management Unit.

RITTS – East Lombardy ACTIONS AND MEASURES COMING OUT FROM THE RITTS EAST LOMBARDY PROJECT ACTIONSMEASURES 2. Development of the "Interaction Junctions" within the local districts and the productive specialization areas. A2.1.1Interaction Junction of the Wood district. Bergamo. A2.1.2Interaction Junction of the Button district. Bergamo. A2.1.3Interaction Junction of the Agri-food district. Provinces of Cremona, Mantova and Bergamo. A2.1.4Interaction Junction of the Diecasting firms. Brescia. A2.1.5Interaction Junction of the Lumezzane district. Brescia. A2.1.6Interaction Junction of the Hosiery district. Mantova and Brescia. A2.1.7Interaction Junction of the Domotics in the building sector. A2.1.8Interaction Junction of the Agricoltural Mechanics. Mantova. A2.2Establishment of new Interaction Junctions for creating stable "innovative projects producers" within the productive specializations, the districts and the local systems.

RITTS – East Lombardy ACTIONS AND MEASURES COMING OUT FROM THE RITTS EAST LOMBARDY PROJECT ACTIONSMEASURES 3. Promotion of Innovative Financial Services supporting the strategic innovation. A3.1 Starting up an experimental programme of private funds financing the innovation system (seed capital, private equity, venture capital, closed funds, etc.). A3.2 Public support in the diffusion of the "Business Angels Network" within the provinces of the East Lombardy.

RITTS – East Lombardy ACTIONS AND MEASURES COMING OUT FROM THE RITTS EAST LOMBARDY PROJECT ACTIONSMEASURES 4. Support for high risk strategic innovation with special public funds. A4.1 Increasing the public incentives for strategic research projects carried out by the districts SME in collaboration with the public/private supply system. A4.2Transfer, partly, risks and threatens during the experimentation of strategic innovation projects. A4.3 Starting up public actions supporting not - technological innovation (design, international projects, new markets research, creation of firms network, etc.).

RITTS – East Lombardy ACTIONS AND MEASURES COMING OUT FROM THE RITTS EAST LOMBARDY PROJECT ACTIONSMEASURES 5. Promotion of Training Activities on innovation within the firms. A5.1Establishment and widening, starting from the Interaction Junctions, of "On Line Learning Communities". A5.2 Activation of training programmes for District Services Centres and Development Agencies on Innovation and technological transfer. A5.3 Sensibilization of the financial system on innovation through special training projects.

RITTS – East Lombardy Knowledge Management as a reference variable for innovation The underlying hypothesis of the East Lombardy Ritts project views innovation as being increasingly less dependent on external factors linked to science and technology, and evermore attributable to the active combination and recombination of knowledge and to the identification of new solutions within the company. To develop new products, today, companies need to develop a degree of knowledge inside the company to be able to innovate. So to be much more important a bottom-up approach to understand the current process.

RITTS – East Lombardy Knowledge Management as a reference variable for innovation Economic production does not just make use of knowledge generated by the main knowledge centres (universities, research centres, laboratories etc.) only available to those who share the codified language or are on the specialised circuits of technical communication. For knowledge to be transformed into an economic value, it must be combined with practical skills and applied experience that can be built into concrete production systems (on the job). Practice particularly important within the Italian Industrial Districts and specially those existing within the Est of Lombardy. Without this ability to translate and incorporate abstract knowledge inside organisations, science and technology remain only potential resources.

RITTS – East Lombardy The Interaction Junctions (Innovation Exchange Groups) The innovation nodes in the East Lombardy RITTS project have been designed and tested as a useful tool for the creation of areas of possible co-operation between the private and public institutions that perform R&D activities and the district companies. The local system does not receive orders from the outside (for example, a technological change or a regional public policy); it selects those technological and regulatory innovations that the internal social- production structure is able to elaborate and internalise in the district's industrial processes. The Innovation Exchange Groups are therefore a structure of intermediate co-operation placed between R&D production centres and district companies that analyse changes in the technological landscape in accordance with codes that define the autonomy and identity of the district, thus allowing the internal structure of the local district system to respond to external stimuli on the subject of radical innovations.

RITTS – East Lombardy Communities of Practice The Local System assume to be a Community of Companies linked by common problems and searching, togheter, common solutions. These communities are able to become a "Tool of Learning" as an experience in involving the local subjects (actors). The Interaction Junctions elaborate Communities of Practice through common solutions to foster a strategic renewal of knowledge.

RITTS – East Lombardy Communities of Practice Within this scenario, Communities of Practice (i.e. professionals who practice the same profession) may represent a solution to the inability of the SME to offer their employees continuous and customised training, to problems of the placement of qualified professionals in the districts, and to the limitations of the training currently on offer which is too standardised and uniform with respect to requirements.

RITTS – East Lombardy Communities of Practice The study foreseen by the Ritts East Lombardy intends to identify potential areas of testing and intervention to develop and make better use of professional knowledge in districts to promote the competitiveness of local systems. The study will occur in three separate and sequential phases. Phase 1: Identification of professional communities Phase 2: Analysis of professional communities Phase 3: Design and implementation of the technological model for the community. The proposers of the study are mainly: the Chamber of Commerce of Mantova, the Venice International University – Tedis and the district Services Centres of the Provinces of the Ritts East Lombardy.

RITTS – East Lombardy Mantova: General Conference on IMTs The first workshop of the network, where all IRE network members will be invited, is a general conference on IMTs organized by the Province of Mantova in co-operation with Politecnico di Milano. This conference aims to help regional representatives have a general idea of the IMTs and the selected techniques in particular, to discuss about the perspectives of on-line diffusion and application of IMTs, and express their first reaction to the possibilities of joint actions through the project and later. The proposed subjects for discussion are:

RITTS – East Lombardy Mantova: General Conference on IMTs Experiences and difficulties from IMT applications in European regions The IMTs that seem to have significant applications in the participating regions The IMTs that have not applied due to organisational, financial or local condition difficulties The possibilities for joint actions in IMT development and use The possibilities of online diffusion of IMTs The possibilities of co-operation among all network members or groups of members in selected application areas. A Web Portal of European IMT providers and support organisations.

RITTS – East Lombardy Mantova: General Conference on IMTs The proposed experiences from the North of Italy are: TeDIS (Venice International University) Center for Studies on Technologies in Distributed Intelligence Systems Padua University