Objectives
The one-year Pilot action was launched as a joint initiative by the Joint Research Centre and the European Committee of the Regions. It saw the voluntary participation of 74 European territories, including cities, regions, Member States and networks of territories. It served to exchange practices and learn more on place-based transformative innovation policies, as well as initiate collaborations.
The PRI Pilot was underpinned by the launch of the PRI Playbook in May 2022. The Playbook was conceived as an initial guidance document for the Pilot. The Playbook seeks to guide the ensuing policy dialogue, mutual learning and co-creation.
The knowledge gathered during the PRI Pilot allowed the development of a new document titled Innovation for place-based transformations. ACTIONbook, practices and tools in January 2024. This publication builds on, updates and extends the earlier PRI Playbook, and has been co-created with the JRC-CoR PRI pilot territories and other stakeholders. It offers practical, user-centred guidance to policy makers at all levels.
The development of both the PRI Playbook and the new ACTIONbook has been supported by a Scientific Committee of internationally leading scholars in the fields of regional economic development, sustainability transitions and innovation policy.
Duration
The PRI Pilot was launched in May 2022 and concluded in May 2023. A new phase of engagement with territories is planned to take place from September 2024 under the EU Preparatory Action Innovation for Place-Based Transformation. This aims to facilitate and promote the transformative innovation approach through awareness-raising, capacity building, and experimentation activities with selected participants.
Partners
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the voice of regions and cities in the European Union (EU). It represents local and regional authorities across the European Union and advises on new laws that have an impact on regions and cities (70% of all EU legislation).
Key outputs
Some of the key outputs achieved as a result of the PRI Pilot included exchanging ideas and networking during plenaries and other events; exploring concepts and exchanging good practices on transformative innovation within thematic workshops; setting up thematic working groups with participating territories and experts; and encoding lessons learned into publications.
Key events
- Launch of the CoR-JRC Pilot Action on Partnerships for Regional Innovation – 17 May 2022, hybrid event in Brussels;
- Pilot Plenary meeting on PRI - 07 July 2022, online event;
- Lighthouse event on Regional Innovation Valleys, Sustainable Development Goals and Resilience - 08 September 2022, online event
- Plenary meeting on Defining a monitoring and evaluation system for PRI – 26 October 2022, online event
- Plenary meeting on How interregional collaboration can support systemic transformation? - 14 December 2022, online event
- Plenary meeting on Pilot's stocktaking and co-designing PRI’s next steps – 27 February 2023, online event
- Launch of the Interterritorial working group on climate resilience – 08 March 2023, online event
- High level event on From playbook to implementation – 28 March 2023, hybrid event Brussels
- High level closing event on From Pilot to Practice – 30-31 May 2023, Tällberg
Working groups with participating territories and experts
- Strategic policy framework
- Open discovery process
- Policy and action mix
- Climate adaptation
PRI Scientific Committee
A Scientific Committee of recognised experts in innovation policy, territorial development and sustainability transitions. Chaired by Luc Soete (University of Maastricht) and Sylvia Schwaag-Serger (Lund University) provides conceptual, analytical and strategic inputs to the long-term development of PRI.
The other members of the Scientific Committee are:
- Katalin Erdős (University of Pecs)
- Dominique Foray (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne)
- Luke Georghiou (University of Manchester)
- Paula Kivimaa (SYKE, Finnish Environment Institute)
- Phoebe Koundouri (Athens University of Economics and Business)
- Philip McCann (Sheffield University)
- Kevin Morgan (Cardiff University)
- Slavo Radosevic (University College London)
- Andrea Renda (Centre for European Policy Studies)
- Andres Rodriguez-Pose (London School of Economics)
- Daria Gołębiowska-Tataj (Tajaj Innovation)
- Michaela Trippl (University of Vienna)
If you want to read publications relevant to Partnerships for Regional Innovation published by the PRI Scientific Committee, please visit the following page.
Participation in the Partnerships for Regional Innovation
+ 6 networks
- Baltic Sea Region;
- Bioregions facility;
- Vanguard Initiative;
- Expanded Cities 4.0 Consortium;
- East and North Finland;
- Mid Sweden together with the Swedish Agency for Economic & Regional Growth and Vinnova - Sweden Innovation Agency
PRI publications
- Highlighted
The ACTIONbook is a comprehensive hands-on resource set to empower local, regional and national stakeholders across Europe to drive societal well-being and climate-resilient development through strategic partnerships and purpose-driven actions.
- Highlighted
Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) aspires to become a strategic framework for innovation-driven territorial transformation, linking EU priorities with national plans and place-based opportunities and challenges.
The aim of this report is to investigate the potential for harnessing key features of Transformative Innovation to improve the design and the implementation of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies for Attica and North Aegean regions, Greece.
The aim of this report is to investigate the potential for harnessing key features of Transformative Innovation to improve the design and the implementation of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies for the region of Emilia Romagna, Italy.
The present paper summarises the numerous “science for policy” contributions of the Scientific Committee for Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI).
The potential for HEIs to contribute to and participate in regional innovation ecosystems and European and global education, research and innovation agendas is under-exploited. This report explores the role of these two initiatives in strengthening this interaction.
Connectivity plays a crucial role for innovation and may counterbalance the disadvantage of being located in less developed and remote areas. This report gathers together insights from scientific literature on the role of connectivity and can inspire activities in interregional cooperation.
This paper examines a series of ‘innovation policy engineering’ problems which are related to directionality, mission and transformative objectives. Solving these problems will be central to the effectiveness of smart specialisation strategies and of partnerships for regional innovation.
Drawing on various literatures on the contributions of universities to regional development, this paper explores the strategies and practices that would allow universities to make significant contributions to regional sustainability transition processes and policies.
In this anthology, leading scholars reflect on the conditions for place-based innovation for sustainability and its consequences for directionality, strategy development, governance, actors, and instruments for delivery and investment.
PRI archive content
To find out more about the Partnerships for Regional Innovation Pilot project (2022-2023), please visit the following archive page.
