Enhancing Regional Intelligence for SMEs: Stratinc Meeting Summary

1. STRATINCTENERIFE MEETING PSIP session 7/8 of April 2005

2. Contents • Stratinc : from the needs and demand to foresight • Stratinc : what can be done in terms of foresight ? • WHY is Foresight important

3. Stratinc : from the needs and demand to foresight Based on the field surveys outcomes « SMEs needs for Strategic Intelligence” Main needs are : technology, competitors and customers = “market-needs” oriented

4. Stratinc: from the needs and demand to foresight 2. Less interesting: Regulation/standards, and access to finance 3. Technology is a hot topic: but without real content (what is technology ?) Roughly speaking : expressed needs are not innovation oriented, but focused on traditional business of companies

5. Stratinc : from the needs and demand to foresight • Reasons to participate to a cluster for SMEs • Very important : share competences, get new markets, and some lobbying • but there is no awareness of the importance of clustering • In consequence the PSIP will have to demonstrate its usefulness and relevance against the SMEs needs

6. What was agreed on PSIP PSIP concept key points  : • It is a tool aiming at regional competitiveness improvement for regional policy-makers, and administrations supporting clusters and companies • It is “governance” driven • It has to be developed through a process of: benchmarking the cluster itself (competition with others, lessons learnt from abroad); identifying priorities at regional policy-makers level; designing new schemes and incentives • It is a part of the “innovation supply chain” and it must support change

7. Stratinc : What can be done in terms of foresight ? • Be a step ahead of the expressed needs • Address policy making process • Take into account the “burning issues” of Europe in the global context, at regional level • Stimulate interaction between different actors/stakeholders at regional, national, and EU level • Bring business and research closer, and both closer to society

8. Stratinc : what can be done in terms of foresight ? The vision within … years • Stratinc will stop by Feb.2006, but PSIP are supposed to go ahead, as a tool benefiting to clusters and SMEs, if: • It has a « programming character » • It increases the opportunities for collaboration • It has a positive spillover effect on the local and regional economy

9. WHY is Foresight important ? • « Foresight » is a systematic, participatory, future intelligence gathering and medium-to-long-term vision building process aimed at present-day decisions and mobilising joint actions (HLEG foresight definition) • It is a tool for choosing and creating the most desirable future • Foresight is a policy tool, improving policy making process

10. WHY is Foresight important ? • Due to the increasing role of the regions (see FP 6 KR2 + Future FP7) • It is a powerful tool to construct and share the future of a region • It contributes to improving the quality of governance at regional level; identifying a long term dynamic; promoting debate among the stakeholders; anticipating changes and launching a process for new strategies

11. Sources High Level Expert Group « Thinking the Future », http://www.regional-foresight.de/download/20426finalreport.pdf www.innovating-regions.org/download/foresisght_Blueprint-FOR-RIS.pdf www.innovating-regions.org/download/foresisght_Blueprint-UPGRADe.pdf

12. Stratinc partners url addresses • NRW • http://www.nema.experten.zenit.de • http://www.zenit.de/d/ • Murcia • http://www.ifrm-murcia.es/indexnew.asp • Tenerife : • http://www.wine-net.net/spanish • Lorraine • http://www.epinette.org • http://www.cr-lorraine.fr • URENIO • http://www.urenio.org/ Lacave Allemand & Associés