1. S3P – IM Partnership Smart Regional Investments in Textile Innovation Supported by the RegioTex Initiative
State of Play March 2017
Felipe Carrasco
on behalf of Communidad Valenciana & Nord-Est Romania - Lead Regions
1st S3P-IM Steering Committee Meeting – Brussels, 17/03/2017

4. Partnership & Objectives
Formal commitment by 11 regions so far:
Campania, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy & Piedmont, Italy
Catalonia & Valencia, Spain
Auvergne-Rhône Alpes, France
Norte, Portugal
West-Flanders, Belgium
North-East Romania
Hradec Kralove region, Czech Republic
3 Observer regions: Tuscana & Puglia, Italy; Västra Götaland, Sweden
Supported by RegioTex cross-regional initiative for textile innovation facilitated by Euratex & Textile ETP (started in mid-2015)
Goal: Build Regional Excellence in Textile Innovation across Europe
Objectives:
Better regional support policies & programmes for textile innovation
Stronger regional industry support structures (clusters, research, technology centres, education & training facilities)
More innovation investments by industry & more competitive European textile innovation value chains
Regional competences & infrastructures are the key to SME innovation & investments in the EU Textile & Clothing sector.

5. 1 2 Status & Next Steps Phase Action Timing
EC formally accepts Thematic Area -> Smart Regional Investments in Textile Innovation
late 2016
Mapping of regional situation and capacities, stakeholder workshops (Valencia, NE Rom., Norte, Catalonia, Piedmont, Västra Götaland, Emilia Romagna)
Dec – May 2017
Action plan for each partner region & identification of strategic projects of inter-regional interest
until April
2017
Cross-regional matchmaking (companies/SMEs, researchers, technology providers, clusters) to better define potential & needs of strategic projects
from May 2017 2
Approval of 1st strategic projects by High Level Group, start of project implementation
from summer 2017
Investment in cross-regional research & development, education & training, new industrial value chain building and pilot investments (via EU and cross-regional projects)
2018+
Development and transfer of best practices between regions
Development of new S3 Policies & Programmes for post 2020 period
2019+

6. EU support needs Actions Support Need
International Matchmaking involving SME’s
Event organisation & SME travel cost support (RECONFIRM?)
Development of new SME value chains through pilot collaboration projects
Project brokerage platform & micro-grants for prototyping, coaching & other innovation services (INNOSUP)
Assessment and development of strategic projects by general & sector experts
RECONFIRM +
individual expert contracts
Cluster capacity building in lagging regions/Cluster collaboration & internationalisation in lead regions
Cluster Partnerships
COSME
Peer-to-peer learning of regional policy makers & programme managers
Exchanges, workshops & studies
Interreg Europe