Enhancing the efficiency of the cooperation between business and science in Lithuania
In October 2019 the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) commissioned EFIS Centre and Visionary Analytics to provide guidance to the Ministry of Economy and Innovation as well as other relevant national stakeholders for the design and implementation of R&D programmes aimed to improve and stimulate business-science cooperation. A particular focus was given to the R&D activities in the engineering (including laser technologies), food industry, life sciences industry, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors. The beneficiaries were also keen to get some guidance for the drafting of the National Science and Technology Programmes and learn how to support pre-commercial and innovation public procurement.
Friends of Smart Specialisation
The Friends of Smart Specialisation are an informal group of independent innovation policy experts, set up in Brussels in 2018. The group’s goal is to support the mainstreaming of smart specialisation as an instrument for strengthening the multi-level European innovation system. Smart Specialisation can play a leading role in European policy development and offers an opportunity to align innovation policies at different levels (regional, national, European). Smart Specialisation can therefore support the development of a common reference framework for aligning forces to tackle common challenges and opportunities. The group have produced a mission statement that gives an overview of the group’s thinking on smart specialisation.
CatRIS
The European RI landscape is diverse (RI operators, managers, users (researchers, industry) decision makers, funders). Past efforts were directed towards gaining insight into available RIs, national RI road mapping practices, and planning of pan-European RIs. A catalogue of services for e-infrastructures is currently under development. A recent report by OECD Global Science Forum highlights that ”open digital platforms…can have substantial value for a wide range of stakeholders”.
NGI_TRUST
The NGI_Trust project aims to support the development of a human-centric Internet. by developing a stronger European ecosystem of researchers, innovators and technology developers in the field of privacy and trust enhancing technologies. NGI_TRUST will run two rounds of open calls in order to select and providing financial support to the best projects submitted by third parties in a competitive manner.
RI-PATHS
The aim of the RI-PATHS project is to develop a model describing the socio-economic impact of research infrastructures and their related financial investments. The model will be developed in a modular manner adapting it to a broad range of scientific domains and types of infrastructures. The project outcomes are expected to contribute to a common approach at international level and facilitate investments in research infrastructures by funding agencies and other stakeholders.
European Innovation Scoreboard
This project was commissioned by the European Commission’s DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. The goal is to improve the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS), as the main measurement and benchmarking tools for innovation performance of the EU, its member states, and regions. EFIS Centre is task leader for a methodological report that will develop recommendations on how to better contextualise differences in national and regional performance (EIS and the RIS) through a selected set of structural indicators.
Online S3
This project aims to develop an e-policy platform augmented with a toolbox of applications and online services, which will assist national and regional authorities in the EU in elaborating or revising their smart specialisation agenda, in terms of policies and strategy. The platform will leverage existing methodologies, initiatives and tools developed by the European Commission for the development of smart specialisation (RIS3) strategies, but it will also investigate, develop and test new and innovative technologies, tools and services aiming to strengthen the European capacity for knowledge-based policy advice.
European E-Infrastructure Services Gateway
During the last two decades, Europe has invested significantly in the development of e-infrastructures that support scientific research and the commercialisation of resulting services. In parallel to the thematic investments under the European Strategic Framework for Research Infrastructure (ESFRI), horizontal e-infrastructures have gained the trust of the wider research community. GÉANT, PRACE, EGI, EUDAT and OpenAIRE are the most prominent. These empower scientific communities with ubiquitous, trusted and seamless access to facilities, resources and collaboration tools, bringing to them the power of technology for communication, computation, storage, access and instrumentation.
Rewilding Innovation Systems
Rewilding has been defined most eloquently and simply by George Monbiot as 'the mass restoration of ecosystems’. A longer definition is that rewilding is a form of conservation which aims to return areas of land to their natural wild state, especially by bringing back animal species that used to live there. Rewilding movements (such as Rewilding UK) seek to allow nature to look after itself; help people to thrive alongside wildlife; and securing the good things that nature provides for current and future generations.
