Rural RDI milieus in transition towards smart Bioeconomy Clusters and Innovation Ecosystems

RDI2CluB

PROGRAMME 2014-2020

priority

1 Innovation

objective

1.2 Smart specialisation

RDI2CluB

RDI2Club facilitated business development in rural areas and boosted bioeconomy growth in five countries across the Baltic Sea region.

The challenge

Bioeconomy means economic activities that utilise the biological natural resources and turn them into food, energy, and other products and services providing jobs and business opportunities. The rural areas of Baltic Sea region have a great potential for bioeconomy as they have abundant natural resources. However, these regions struggle to reach their full potential due to limited human capital, business networks and clusters. So far, the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in bioeconomy are mostly in traditional, resource-based industries that have not taken full advantage of latest technology and service innovations.

The rural areas across the Baltic Sea region have limitations in reaching their full bioeconomy potential. SMEs in these regions are mostly in traditional, resource-based industries. The regional knowledge exchange is generally limited and occurs mainly among local actors. Limited human capital, lack of agglomeration economies, low levels of firm clustering and a weak endowment with knowledge generation organizations are characteristic of organizationally thin regional innovation systems (RIS). Five regions identified by the project needed interregional knowledge and networking pipelines to strengthen their competitiveness in bioeconomy.

The project RDI2Club aimed to support smart, sustainable and inclusive growth of the bioeconomy in rural areas of the Baltic Sea region. It intended to help innovation actors apply EU smart specialisation approaches to their specific field and region, and create bio-business hubs to improve innovation management.

details

Budgets

RDI2CluB
in numbers

2.66

Million

Total
1.50

Million

Erdf
0.00

Million

Eni + Russia
0.39

Million

Norway

Achievements

The project is based on the Baltic Sea region’s reputation as a region combining amble natural resources with technological and environmental knowledge. RDI2CluB – and its extension project Connected by BioBord – established a network of bioeconomy regions and actors around the Baltic Sea. This includes Central Finland, Inland Region (Norway), Vidzeme (Latvia), Świętokrzyskie (Poland) and Estonia. Expertise in bio-based business was connected with smart specialisation strategies that prioritise knowledge-based, sustainable bioeconomy to drive rural development.

For a better understanding of the current situation, the project mapped five regions in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway and Poland to develop their bioeconomy profiles and benchmarks for bioeconomy development. Based on that, the project partners elaborated on the action plans for each region presenting the biggest potential and promising interfaces for bioeconomy products, related services and knowledge-based jobs. The collected data from mapping and action plans fed into the prototype of a web tool called the Biobord platform, the testing of which started in April 2019 and involved small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from all the regions. The Biobord platform is aimed for networking and supporting tools for innovating that connects bioeconomy developers.

The regions shared an aspiration to strengthen their regional innovation processes with stronger international cooperation. So-called Joint Action Plans were drawn to identify common interests in bioeconomy development and to steer cross-regional cooperation. The project established BioBord platform with a joint operating model for innovation cooperation. The platform would enable the regions to tap into a wider pool of talent and expertise. It also offered access to innovation support and networks across those bioeconomy regions.

Outputs

Joint Action Plans and Regional Bioeconomy Profiles

Regional Bioeconomy Profiles is a collection of bioeconomy related statistical data of a regional area, enabling a comprehensive picture of a regions bioeconomy performance. It includes ideas on the possible development areas in bioeconomy. It is an important base for implementing S3-strategies on a practical level. So-called Joint Action Plans combine transnational actions based on the regional bioeconomy profiles. The Plans were developed in cooperation with regional authorities, business and academy. In several regions, the planning engaged authorities working with national smart specialisation strategies in the bioeconomy. The Joint Action Plans describe the short, medium and long-term actions that the partner regions are planning to implement in transnational cooperation.

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Biobord Platform

This is a digital platform for networking and supporting tools for innovating that connects bioeconomy developers around the Baltic Sea region. The Platform was tested during two piloting phases, of which the first piloting round represented a working prototype, that was later upgraded. The second piloting focused more on the user experience of the platform and gaining new users. The Biobord platform and its operation model are been developed in an iterative, user-oriented service design process. In connection to the platform, the operational model guides on the joint idea generation, sharing and assessment as well as innovation support.

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