Academic Centre
This year in 29 - 30 March representatives from Sviluppumbria, Latvia University, Municipality of Grosuplje, Hauts de France, Carlow County Council and Zemgale Planning Region were present in Perugia city, Italy.
In the meeting the project was presented in a nutshell. The InnoCom project is comitted to participate in a minimum number of programme events per year (such as the programme annual meeting/Europe Let’s Cooperate, policy learning platform events, etc.). The Lead Partner will attend as many of these as possible (and some are reserved for LPs) but other partners are encouraged to attend them, not only to benefit from the learning and networking, but also to represent InnoCom and help reach the target of events participated.
The Lead partner (Sviluppumbria) presented the reporting of Activities and Results – overview of deadlines, FLC national requirements, project’s internal deadlines and programme deadlines. Partners gave their presentations with overviews of their organization, territory, policy and experience with SMEs and some good practices.
From University of Latvia, which takes the role of advisory partner in this project, project manager Zane Zeibote gave a presentation on the challenges ahead and their implementation. The first thing partners will need to do is regional analysis (In this case, “regional” may mean “territorial” because not all partners represent regions). The first that must be completed is the Regional Analysis (in this case “regional” may mean “territorial” since not all partners represent regions). The peer review process was described and discussed; the regional analysis reports will be key reference documents for the reviewers (along with other kinds of information that the AP will include in the PR guidance).
University of Latvia will also prepare guidance for Good Practices and proposes that the partners identify 3 GP each by semester 4.
At the end of the meeting partners discussed project communications. The LP will handle most of the website updating with input from all partners (info and copyright-free photos). Carlow County Council (Ireland) will manage social media and the two videos.
Date of next meeting will take place in Jelgava city (Latvia) hosted by Zemgale Planning Region will take place on 8-9 June 2023.
Project summary
Administrative barriers can keep SMEs from gaining full benefits of EU funding opportunities intended to help elevate their competitiveness, so city and regional authorities must improve their governance and regulatory framework to reduce barriers, improve messaging and increase the visibility of support and EU funding opportunities. These actions will benefit SMEs and the reputation of institutions delivering the services and support programs. Recent global events (COVID-19, War in Ukraine, etc.) have made it even more crucial to support SMEs’ development and competitiveness. European cities and regions can respond by making funding more accessible, so businesses can expand or innovate, export within and beyond the single market, undertake energy-saving upgrades, hire from traditionally disadvantaged groups, increase digitalization, etc. Communication of funding opportunities must be better targeted, digitally accessible, interactive, equally distributed, and clearly presented, reducing bureaucratic jargon as much as possible. Building on existing practices and informed by interregional learning, the InnoCom will improve local policy instruments to introduce innovative models, digital tools, and services, reduce obstacles, and make other changes for better and more user-friendly interaction with businesses. In follow-up, it will monitor the expected outcome: SMEs empowered to raise their game through access to public services, and other support. Partners from Italy, Romania, France, Latvia, Slovenia, and Ireland will work together to identify weaknesses, seek solutions, and exchange good practices and ideas through the interregional learning process. The University of Latvia acts as the Advisory partner of the InnoCOM project.
Partners
The project involves a total of 8 partners from 6 countries/regions: Lead Partner Sviluppumbria (IT), Advisory Partner University of Latvia (LV), Project Partner Bucharest Ilfov Regional Development Agency (RO), Project Partner Municipality of Grosuplje (SI), Project Partner Hauts de France Regional Council (FR), Project Partner Carlow County Council (IE), Project Partner Zemgale Planning Region (LV), Associated Policy Authority Umbria Region (IT).
Project duration
March 2023 – February 2027
More information:
Homepage: https://interregeurope.eu/innocom
Information about the project on LU page: https://www.lu.lv/cets/research/euproject/innocom/
Introduction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpdUrTD4X4Y
For additional information contact: Endija Latvena, LU ESASAC, endija.latvena@lu.lv , tel. (+371 26448889)
