Vanguard Initiative –based and BIF-lead Interreg Europe project “S34Growth – Enhancing policies through interregional cooperation: New industrial value chains for growth” is launched this week on 15-17 June in Tampere. The kickoff event includes advanced manufacturing and industrial innovation related policy learning and co-creation sessions, study visits and a seminar for stakeholders. The kickoff event gathers policy makers and stakeholders from all project partner regions: Basque Country, Catalonia, Norte, Lombardy, Flanders, Zuid-Holland, South Netherlands, Skåne, Scotland and Tampere region.
European regions can contribute to EU industry renewal, competitiveness and internationalization through new ways of industry-led interregional cooperation and by leveraging and developing their own areas of industrial specialisation in relation to those of other regions. Within the Vanguard Initiative New Growth through Smart Specialisation, the S34Growth partners have been pioneering a new approach to European industry-led interregional cooperation since late 2013. The main objective of the S34Growth project is to develop and improve existing regional policy instruments to facilitate interregional collaboration, which in turn will support the renewal of Europe’s industry and competitiveness.
S34Growth activities build on an innovative methodology (learn, connect, demonstrate, commercialise) identified within the Vanguard Initiative, which consists of regional stakeholders learning from each other, connecting the organisations and activities, and moving on to demonstration projects with the ultimate goal of improving commercialisation and product and service development processes. As the main result of the S34Growth project, an innovative interregional element to the addressed regional policy instruments is developed, supporting the interregional, co-specialization approach to smart specialisation, and to be easily replicated at any domain and anywhere in Europe.
