Nordregio is an international research institute established by the Nordic Council of Ministers

January 2016 – June 2020

HIGHER – Better Policy Instruments for High Innovation Projects in the European Regions

Nine European institutions collaborate in the framework of the Interreg Europe Program for the implementation of HIGHER. The project has the objective to improve the innovation framework and the smart specialization strategy of different EU regions.

HIGHER will analyse and exchange experiences and good practices on the management and implementation of regional policy instruments designed to promote the innovation projects under the collaboration between research centers, industry and public authorities.

The HIGHER project is addressed to achieve innovative models of public private partnerships suitable to mobilize investment in related smart specialization areas and fostering an entrepreneurial discovery process in driving innovation process of the policy instruments. This will be achieved through the analysis of nine policy instruments from one of each region involved in the project to promote the innovation projects under public private partnerships. The partners of the project will evaluate these instruments and try to identify which are their main weaknesses, developing a learning process to overcome the main obstacles around them and enhancing a better and more efficient implementation.

Thought basic methods, as workshops, study visits and thematic summits and developed ones, as joint analysis, peer reviews and e-learning modules, the different regions will exchange the experiences and good practices for the future improvement of the policy instruments of each region.

Projects facts

Date: January 2016 – June 2020

Lead partner:
Autonomous University of Barcelona Research Park

Other partners:
Nordregio, Sweden
Marche Region (Italy)
INTELI (Portugal)
Lithuanian Innovation Centre
Abruzzo Region (Italy)
Association of Urban Municipalities of Slovenia
Region of Central Macedonia (Greece)
Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (UK)

Client

European Commission / Interreg Europe

Project manager

Senior Research Fellow

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