1. Synergies with relevant European innitiatives- West RDA
Cristian Gotia
West RDA - Ro-Boost SMEs Consortium
EEN national Meeting - June 2017
Introduction: explain that what we do – in a nutshell – is to help ambitious SMEs innovate and grow internationally.

2. West Regional Development Agency policy development
2007 – 2017
Strategic planning & regional studies
Intermediate Body for the ROP
Intermediate Body for SMEs
Foreign investment support
Internationalization activities supported by EU programmes
7 Interreg Projects and 3 FP6/FP7
participation to projects with a total budget amount of 14,7 million Euro
80 project partners
Cluster management (ICT, Automotive)
Innovation support services (Tehimpuls)
Consortium Coordinator – Enterprise Europe Network
Leader of RO-Hungary and RO-Serbia cross-border offices
1998 – 2006
Planning
Implementation organism for National and Pre-Adherence Funds
Foreign investment attraction
International Projects
Innovation (first RIS)

3. WEST REGION RIS3
– first Romanian region that created Smart Specialisation Strategy paralel with the same project at national level
External expertize from the World Bank
Automotive și machine building
ICT
Textile
Agro-food - Food processing and preservation, functional health products, nutritional products, farming processes innovations, winery, bio-products, etc.
Tourism
Sustainable construction and energy efficiency
Smart Specialisation Strategy has been a driver for:
Interreg projects participation
Cluster support activities
Future project ideas
Generating impact in the region
Enterprise Europe Network activities

4. WEST REGION – Strategic sectors (within RIS3)
Evident competitive advantage
PRIORITY
SECTORS
Automotive
Textiles
IT&C
Construc-tions
Agro-food
Tourism
Latent competitive advantage
Indicators
2011
2015
Total number of companies
2.314
Total fiscal value – mil. EUR
543,2
764,9
Total number of companies with foreign contribution to the capital
706
Export – mil. Euro
257,9
219,9
Unclear competitive advantage

5. NICHE - Building Innovative Food Value Chains in Regions
NICHE partnership aims, by 2019 and through the improvement of existing policies, achieve an average 15 % increase in the adoption of research and innovation solutions by food sector companies in their regions to give response to the demand of this sector identified as high-potential sector for their smart growth.
Digital marketing and distribution channels
New business models and services for the companies in the agro food sector
More efficient production models based on technology
New perspectives for consumers
Budget: Euro
West RDA (lead partner) – 252,210 euro
(cofinancing 2% - 5,044 euro)
Project duration: 48 months

6. NICHE - Building Innovative Food Value Chains in Regions
Specializations of the food sector in partner regions
West Region, Romania
agrifood
Border region, Ireland sustainable Food Production & Processing and Food 
for health
Northern Ireland, Great Britain
agri-food technology
South Ostrobothnia, Finland
food technology and agricultural innovations
Tartu, Estonia
biotechnologies in food production and other areas
Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Polonia
food safety and personalized food ­ processing, fertilizers, packages 
Crete, Greece
agricultural-food: production, packaging, food processing, Mediterranean diet 

7. NICHE so far…
Identification and transfer of practices in the food sector between NICHE regions
Analysis of the food sector in the participant regions including:
policy review and innovation in food companies
Networking and business cooperation facilitation between organisations from the partner regions
Creating synergies with other initiatives in NICHE regions

8. West RDA – good practices
Association for the Support of Small-Scale Farming
ZAX Farm Software
Research Platform - Organic Sustainable Agriculture and Food Safety

9. Niche Synergies with EEN – promote business impact not just policy learning
We promote project study visits to create opportunities for companies to learn and meet new partners
Region of Crete - February 18-20, 2017 related to Cretan Wine Fair Festival
Derry - March 2017, - related to LegenDerry
Tartu Region - April 19-21, Related to Food Fair Tartu
South Ostrobothnia - June 6-8, Related to Food Business Summit
Kujawsko Pomorskie - August Related to Festival of Flavor in Gruczno
We facilitate project activities to focus on business impact: local event for honey bee producers on how to export and how to meet the international standards.
We disseminate information to our agrofood companies regarding new market opportunities

10. iEER - Boosting innovative Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Regions for young entrepreneurs
iEER aims to optimize the structural funds (ESIFs) in the regions to support young entrepreneurship for growth and jobs through testing, transferring and upscaling the EER best practices to enable HEIs and the other Quadruple Helix actors to be a part of thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem
Development opportunities for the West Region:
Support for academic entrepreneurship and start-ups
Financing models through multiple funding
Assesment tools that can lead to increased number of jobs
Helsinki-Uusimaa (LP), Brandenburg, Southern Denmark, Nord-Pas de Calais, Kerry County, Northern Ireland, Valencia, Marche, Westpomenrania, West Region Romania

11. Risk road Future innitiatives – CoachPower (Danube Interreg Programme)
Development
objective
Start-ups
urge to grow
Scale-ups
urge to scale
INNOVATION
Risk road
How?
With whom?
How much growth?
How expensive?
Accessing talent
Transformational
leadership
STRATEGIC ASSETS
Finance
Markets
Infrastructure
Survival
Bag-pack
transformational

12. Coaching scheme packages
CoachPower - services
Support service innovation
Competence building
External competences
Coaching scheme packages
Survival
Bag-pack
Transformational
leadership
Soft skills
Market opportunities
Finance
Fundraising
Markets
Transformational
leadership skills
Right finance
formula
Market success
1. Innovation management assessment
2. Cross country coaching staff exchange (partner to partner, partner to business, business to business)
1. Investment readiness evaluation
2. Meet the investor/pitching training
1. Business intelligence in the Danube Region
2. Internationalisation in Danube Region (B2B matchmaking)

13. CoachPower – delivery mechanism
Company needs
assessment t
Coaching scheme
implementation
formula
Follow up
impact
Sources
Project lenght
Project output
Internal partners expertise & external relevant expertise
3 years project
3 Smart Specialisation Sectors addressed: ICT, Agro-food, Creative industry
6 companies coached per project partner
1 maximum 2 Smart Specialization sector addressed per project partner
1 up to 3 months implementation of coaching service formula to companies
1 month follow up
Pilot schemes
Implementation report
Best practice case studies
Standardized toolbox for coaching with quality standards
Cross countries coaching
Staff exchange
Expertise network partnership in Danube Region
Policy improvement on Smart Specialization Strategy either national ore regional

14. Thank you! Follow us at www.eenroboost.ro Consorțiul Ro-Boost SMEs
Agenția pentru Dezvoltare Regională Vest
Str. Proclamația de la Timișoara nr. 5
Timișoara, , România,
Tel: , Fax:
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