Project OMEN – Year One

1. Project OMEN – Year One

2. The Reference Framework and the “Mutual Learning Platform” (MLP) • • Mutual Learning Platform (MLP): a joint initiative of the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry, Research, Regional Policy and Information Society DGs, with the active involvement of the Committee of the Regions (CoR). It draws together a number of existing Community initiatives for greater coherence, such as regional foresight activities, the European Innovation TrendChart and Scoreboard, and the Regions of Knowledge pilot actions • • The MLP aims to support regions in developing their research strategies, taking into account their specific situation and needs. • - Working groups comprising around 60 regional actors have been established and series of workshops have been organised under each of these headings, with the objective of sharing experiences and making suggestions for regional policy makers across the EU.

3. The Orientation of the European Commission Objectives of the Mutual Learning Platform in terms of Regional Benchmarking • Promote benchmarking as a tool to improve policy and exploit experience; • Actively involve regions in the creation of an Innovation Scoreboard for European regions through a bottom-up approach; • Improve and favour the use of methodologies developed at regional level to create a benchmarking structure; • Facilitate the development of tools supporting policy makers in decision-making processes.

4. European Innovation Scoreboard and theRegional InnovationScoreboard • European Innovation Scoreboard: a key element of the Lisbon process to measure and compare the innovation level of member states (strengths and weaknesses) • 2005: 26 indicators • Regional Innovation Scoreboard: • 2002 RIS (Trend Chart): 148 regions of EU 15, 7 indicators, 1 year • 2003 RIS (Trend Chart): 173 regions of EU 15, 13 indicators, 1 year • 2006 RIS : 203 regions of EU 25, 7 indicators, 5 year trend • Problems concerning data availability (source: “Community Innovation Survey” CIS 3 2003-2004, no regional data) • CIS 4 (next issue): regional dimension of 9 States/Regions (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Luxemburg. No regional data for Finland, France, Germany and Sweden….

5. OMEN Answers • Actively involve regions in a permanent process of objective sharing; • Implement a benchmarking methodology to verify the validity and applicability in the involved regions; • Provide an “off the shelf” tool for the evaluation of innovation policy impact assessment; • Facilitate the exchange of experience through interregional events;

6. Objectives of the Second Regional Round Table • Present the results obtained from the questionnaires collected during the first RRT; • Illustrate the impact analysis methodology chosen by OMEN; • Introduce the benchmarking indicators; • Receive feedback and suggestions from regional innovation stakeholders for future project activities.

7. OMEN: State of Activities

8. Regional Round Table Analysis and Presentation of Results Phase One: Outlook for Regional Stakeholders Identification of the first set of indicators

9. Phase Two: Project Methodology • Select policies and variables to evaluate • Create questionnair for initial data collection • Initial analysis of available data and information • Initial selection of evaluation indicators

10. Future Activities and Objectives • Benchmarking of policies and analysis of stakeholder needs • Comparative analysis of regional situations • Identification of successful policies • Preparation of a White Book containing recommendations for policy makers