2.3. RIS3 governance

Starting a RIS3 it is necessary to define the decision making and management structures.

Demand-side perspectives, from innovation-user or interest groups of consumers, should be represented along with supply-facing perspectives.

DG REGIO - RIS for Smart Specialisation in Greece

1. Governance: Participation of innovation actors

REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE ECOLOGY

Leadership is "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal".

In RIS3, leadership has to achieve a truly place-based entrepreneurial process of discovery, experimentation and discovery of niches for specialization / differentiation.

Leadership of RIS3 can be political, led by elected governments, managerial, led by entrepreneurs and private sector representatives, and intellectual, led by people in the academia and research.

DG REGIO - RIS for Smart Specialisation in Greece

2. Leadership: Regional and consensus driven

Since smart specialization, differentiation, and productive modernization are main objectives, leadership and priority setting should be driven by entrepreneurs and private sector participants.

This is particularly needed in Greece where private sector investment in research and innovation is top challenge to address.

“No matter who is involved, the RIS3 process needs to be interactive, regionally-driven and consensus based”

Most Greek regions have previous experience in designing bottom-up innovation policy, gained from RIS, RIS plus, and Regional Programs of Innovative actions elaborated during 1995-2006, funded from RG Regio, and from Regional Innovation Poles 2006-09.

Since 2006, R&I policy was centralised by GSRT under a ‘shadow’ program of research and technological innovation based on aggregation of funds from the 13 regional OPs. Continuity with RIS and post RIS was lost.

3. Innovation governance in Greece

REGIONAL INNOVATION POLES - STRUCTURE

CLUSTER ICT

32 Manufacturing of radio, television, and communication equipment 64 Telecommunications services 72 Computer and other similar services

ACTION 1

IMPLEMENTATION AUTHORITY

ACTION 2

IMPLEMENTATION

AUTHORITY

ACTION 3

IMPLEMENTATION

AUTHORITY

ACTION …

IMPLEMENTATION

AUTHORITY

ACTION N

IMPLEMENTATION

AUTHORITY

STRATEGIC PLANNING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION INNOVATION MANAGEMENT TOOLS

EXTERNAL EVALUATOR

MONITORING

SYSTEM INDICATORS

ONGOING

EVALUATION

FINANCIAL CONTROL

MANAGEMENT

UNIT

PROCESS CONSULTANTS

PROJECT LEADER

REGIONAL ASSOCIATION

STEERING COMMITTEE REGIONAL AUTHORITIES UNIVERSITIES TECHNOLOGY CENTRES COMPANY CLUSTERS BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS WORKERS ASSOCIATIONS INDUSTRY LEADERS

GENERAL SECRETARIAT FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

DIRECTING BOARD

SECTORALFOCUS

R&D Lab

Testing company

Product development company

Implementation Consortia

To date, the institutional framework has changed: Regions and elected regional councils have new responsibilities for economic development, industry, energy, tourism, and productive restructuring, given by the law 3852/2010 (Kallikratis reform) and have to endorse the regional Operational Programs of 2014-2020.

For the programming period 2014-2020, the design of cohesion policies started in April 2012. However, the first Ministerial Directive and the produced accordingly regional reports do not provide guidance for collaborative and bottom-up elaboration of innovation priorities as foreseen in RIS3.

Reports prepared by the Regions are not S3 strategies, but response to Ministry of Development request for SWOT and first priority setting for 11 objectives of EU 2020 strategy.

Governance of RIS3 can follow the same pattern to all Greek regions, because:Bottom-up elaboration of RIS3 is missing in all regions. The institutional framework for innovation governance is common to all regions.Regions, besides the differences in development levels and innovation capability, suffer from the same weaknesses in the governance of innovation.

4. Current institutional framework

Regional authorities, having now the legal responsibility for OP 2014-2020, should establish a new framework for bottom-up strategic planning with the direct involvement of regional stakeholders.

Recommended decision making structure: Three tiers

(a) the regional council composed by the Governor and elected council as top decision making body;

(b) a Steering Committee composed of regional stakeholders from the business and academic communities and the public administration, and

(c) (c) thematic working groups focusing on main sectors of smart specialisation under the IMA

Regional Council

Intermediate Managing AuthorityProgramming Team

Regional Innovation CouncilSmart Specialisation Strategy

Steering Committee

Smart Specialisation Strategy Managing Unit

Coordinators of Working Groups

Working Group 1Specialisation

Discovery

Working Group 3Regional Digital

Agenda

Working Group 2Clusters and

Sectors

Working Group 4SMEs and Agro-

food

Working Group 5Tourism

Rules of participation, roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined.

Bottom-up planning along the entire planning process, from regional needs analysis, SWOT, priorities setting, design of actions, monitoring

Legitimate the focus on and selection of large-scale projects

5. RIS3 governance: Three tiers

Companies selectionHigher turnoverHigher turnover growthHigher exportsMost active in EU researchSuccessful start-ups

DG REGIO - RIS for Smart Specialisation in Greece

6. Members for RIS3: Selection criteria

R&D labs selectionIndustry focusedContracts with companiesMost contracts from EU researchManaging open infrastructures and test-beds

Users and NGOsOpen clubs / open coffeeProducer networks Non-profit associationsProduct platforms holdersOpen source initiatives

Public administrationRegional development agenciesGeographical units representationHaving managerial competence

How to coordinate national and regional decisions making. Which division of roles and responsibilities?

How to make a quick mapping of the regional knowledge ecosystem?

How to set-up the overall structure of RIS3 governance?

How to select members for different RIS3 tiers?

How to achieve private sector leadership?

How to achieve continuity with previous bottom-up innovation initiatives?

How to adapt the development reports of the 1st Directive to RIS3 rational and specifications?

7. Wrap-up: Questions to address

DG REGIO - RIS for Smart Specialisation in Greece