WHAT INNOVATION FOR WHAT REGIONS? Can benchmarking be a driver? Ronald POHORYLES The Interdisciplinary Centre for Comparative Research in the Social Sciences, Vienna & Paris

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 The Aims of the Presentation Far from being trivial: what is innovation; and how does it happen Does benchmarking help? The alternative: Getting analytical understanding of innovation processes Comparing best practice and mutual learning

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Why is innovation a complex concept? The topic of the conference is in the subtitle: “Fostering competitiveness through innovation technologies, products and healthy communities” But is this the main strategy for the economic change of a region?

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 The Agenda for the programme “Regions for economic change” What we talk about is thus: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Making European regions more attractive places to invest and to work; Improving knowledge and innovation; More and better job; and the territorial dimension of European Cohesion Policy

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Sustainable regional innovation

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 The Agenda for the programme “Regions for economic change” Sustainable development calls for innovation, but is a broader concept than merely technological innovation. It must meet the demand of the European citizens to bring Europe closer to their needs. The governance concept calls for inclusion of all relevant stakeholders; insofar as regional development policies are concerned, not just the policy makers and the industries are stakeholders, but NGOs and citizens as well.

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Does benchmarking help? Benchmarking provides information, but does not provide knowledge Benchmarking is based upon merely quantitative data Quantitative data are very expensive to obtain, hence there are just quite few indicators The quality of the indicators can be questioned, and the interpretation of “proxies” is quite arbitrary Benchmarking risks to compare incomparable structures

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 The problem of benchmarking : The big risk: One-size-fits-all… Xavier Gorce, La lettre du Monde, 20/9/2004 How can you be so similar? We are not similar!!!

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 A novel approach for policy assessment The"EUROCOOP“ project tries to overcome this problem “Impact assessment of regional innovation policies and benchmarking: European cooperation for sustainable regional innovation” The main objective of EURO-COOP is to develop a research and innovation policy impact assessment system at the regional level in order to improve the measurement of the various impacts of regional research and innovation policies.

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 How does innovation happen? Supporting policies might help, but: Innovations is based on knowledge, not on guidance

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Lessons to be learnt It is huge misunderstanding to oppose marketable innovation to R&D research Innovation needs creative environments and knowledge production Academic research is relevant for innovation as it attracts investment from innovative firms Academic research needs a balanced academic infrastructure – leading universities are not just leading in technology, but in the social sciences and humanities as well Creative innovators need cultural infrastructures

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 How does innovation happen? Innovation needs the mobilisation of capital, but of human resources as well Innovating regions need to provide an innovative environment The regions must be supported by national and European programmes, but…... local knowledge is required for sustainable, hence successful innovation. Strategies that are seen as top-down approaches will not mobilise enough support.

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Policy Analysis:Towards an Analytical Understanding of Regional Innovation Policies The methodological challenge is obvious: From quantitative (as measured in indicators & scoreboards) to more qualitative methods (intangible factors, processes & experiences) From an analytic (taking the problem to pieces) to synthetic approach (putting together solutions).

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 RIPIA method and logical framework Source: Joe Ravetz, Kieron Flanagan / Elvira Uyarra, EUROCOOP: University of Manchester Team

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 The RIPIA approach: Knowledge for action The RIPIA method contains a series of steps and information requirements, which will help regional innovation analysts carry out more effective impact assessments. The RIPIA toolkit is a package of guidance, templates and resources to support the innovation policy, based on this methodology.

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March ° The RIPIA approach I How to move from performance measurement to policy impact assessment? What use are existing indicators? How are they used or abused? What are the needs for new indicators? How can we look behind indicators at what is really going on? ‘ From Indicators to Intelligence’:

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March ° The RIPIA approach II How are ‘soft’ processes best managed & „benchmarked“? How best to manage institutional barriers and conflicts? How can such processes & interactions be assessed and evaluated? ‘A wider range of evidence’:

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March ° The RIPIA approach III How can self-assessment & shared intelligence be built into the regional system? How could a toolkit make a contribution to assessment & policy learning? What kind of ‘toolkit’, if any, do regions really need? ‘From Assessment to Applications’ :

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March ° Policy Analysis: The Regional Impact Assessment Model Source: Joe Ravetz, Kieron Flanagan / Elvira Uyarra, EUROCOOP: University of Manchester Team

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Regions have different needs

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Mutual learning and qualitative comparison Transdisciplinary approaches are needed A good example how to work are foresight studies Best practice models have to be exchanged on a deliberative base. This means that strategies have to be developed with all stakeholders on the regional level, but coordination with the national and European levels can frame the activities.

Regions for Economic Change Brussels, 7 – 8 March 2007 Thank you for your patience! Contacts: Coordinator: Ronald J Pohoryles Task Officer: Jean-Pierre Lentz