COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Strengthening Innovation in Europe's Regions: Strategies for resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth
Date: 2017-07-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Subjects: EU investment, EU regional policy, citizens' Europe, economic and social cohesion, economic reform, globalisation, innovation, job creation, regional cooperation, sustainable development

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.7.2017  COM(2017) 376 final   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Strengthening Innovation in Europe's Regions:  Strategies for resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth {SWD(2017) 264 final}  
 
 
1.  A MODERN ECONOMY AND A FAIR TRANSITION FOR EU REGIONS  

Europe  is  experiencing  a  period  of  momentous  change.  Globalisation,  automation, 
decarbonisation, emerging and digital technologies: all have an impact on jobs, industrial 
sectors, business models, the economy and the society as a whole. It is indispensable to 
help Europeans adapt to these profound changes and to help the EU economy to become 
more  resilient.  In  the  Reflection  Paper  on  Harnessing  Globalisation1,  the  Commission 
highlighted the opportunities and challenges that Europe's citizens and regions are facing. 
This  means  that  we  need  to  anticipate  and  manage  the  modernisation  of  existing 
economic and societal structures, bearing in mind that today, more than ever, local issues 
have gone global and global issues have become local. To this end, Europe needs a long-
term  strategy,  involving  action  at  all  levels,  which  triggers  a  fundamental  shift  in 
technology, economics and finance.  

The EU has a crucial role to play in supporting all regions and Member States to activate 
their potential for innovation, competitiveness and sustainable jobs and growth. This is at 
the core of the various initiatives already undertaken, on the regulatory side2 as well as 
through the Investment Plan to create a stable pipeline of projects linked to the key EU 
priorities. Moreover, in recent years the Commission has called on national and regional 
authorities  to  develop  smart  specialisation  strategies  for  research  and  innovation3.  The 
aim  was  to  encourage  all  European  regions  to  identify  their  specific  competitive 
advantages, as a basis for prioritising research and innovation investment under cohesion 
policy  in  2014-2020.  Subsequently,  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council  of  the 
European Union and the Committee of the Regions have highlighted the need to further 
build on this approach to raise the innovation potential of all regions4.  

Given the need to work jointly together at all levels, from local to European, to respond 
to  these  challenges  and  help  Europe  thrive  in  the  modern  world5,  this  Communication, 
and  its  accompanying  Staff  Working  Document,  take  the  smart  specialisation  approach 
one step further and tackle the following main challenges:  

  Boosting  the  innovation  and  competitiveness  potential  of  European  regions,  as  a 

basis for a sustainable growth model; 

 

Increasing  interregional  cooperation,  which  is  a  key  element  in  globalised 
economies;  

  Strengthening the focus on less developed and industrial transition regions;  

 

Improving  and  building  on  joint  work  across  EU  policies  and  programmes 
supporting innovation.  

1  European Commission's Reflection Paper on Harnessing Globalisation - COM(2017) 240 final. 
2   10 Priorities of the Juncker's Commission. 
3  COM(2010) 553 final. 
4  Council Conclusions of 10 June 2016 on "A more research and innovation friendly, smart and simple 
Cohesion  Policy  and  the  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  more  generally",  European 
Parliament resolution of 14 January 2014 on smart specialisation: networking excellence for a sound 
Cohesion Policy (2013/2094(INI)), European Parliament resolution of 13 September 2016 on Cohesion 
Policy and Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) (2015/2278(INI)), The 
Committee  of  the  Regions  opinion  of  22  March  2017  on  "Smart  Specialisation  Strategies  (RIS3): 
impact for regions and inter-regional cooperation". 
From  the  foreword  to  the  publication  "Industry  in  Europe"  (February  2017)  of  the  President  of  the 
European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.  

5 

2 

 
 
                                                            
In  this  context,  a  range  of  focused  pilot  actions  are  put  forward,  which  will  facilitate 
developing  experience  and  a  broader  way  of  looking  at  the  economic  development  and 
growth of European regions. The ultimate goal is to enable all Europe's regions to build 
on  smart  specialisation  to  fully  unlock  their  potential  for  technological  change, 
digitisation decarbonisation and industrial modernisation.  

2.  SMART  SPECIALISATION:  REGIONAL  PACTS  FOR  INNOVATION, 

GROWTH AND JOBS 

The Smart specialisation approach was integrated into the reformed cohesion policy for 
2014-2020, which was designed to maximise the positive impact on growth and jobs.  

Smart specialisation strategies are about enabling regions to turn their needs, strengths 
and  competitive  advantages  into  marketable  goods  and  services.  They  aim  to  prioritise 
public  research  and  innovation  investments  through  a  bottom-up  approach  for  the 
economic  transformation  of  regions,  building  on  regional  competitive  advantages  and 
facilitating market opportunities in new inter-regional and European value chains. They 
help regions to anticipate, plan and accompany their process of economic modernisation. 

Member  States  and  regions  have  developed  over  120  smart  specialisation  strategies 
through  partnership,  multi-level  governance  and  bottom-up  approach  establishing 
priorities for research and innovation investments for the 2014-2020 period.  

Throughout  this  period  more  than  EUR  40 billion  (and  more  than  EUR  65 billion 
including  national  co-financing)  allocated  to  regions  through  the  European  Regional 
Development Fund will fund these priorities. Overall, support to research, innovation and 
entrepreneurship  is  expected  to  help15 000  enterprises  to  introduce  new  products  to 
market,  to  support  140 000  start-ups  and  to  create  350 000  new  jobs  by  the  end  of  the 
programming  period6.  In  addition,  EUR  1.8 billion  has  been  programmed  under  the 
European  Social  Fund  for  strengthening  human  capital  in  research,  technological 
development and innovation. National, regional and local priorities have been identified 
and mapped in the process of designing these strategies7.  
Examples of priorities in smart specialisation strategies8: 

 

 

 

In Emilia-Romagna, Italy, the regional partnership has identified health and well-
being as a priority and is bringing different key enabling technologies together with 
biomedicine to develop customised precision grafting and implants. 
In Extremadura, Spain, farmers and researchers are addressing the lack of capacity 
to meet market demand during peak season by participating together in a European 
network which develops high tech farming. 
In  Lapland,  Finland,  smart  specialisation  contributed  to  develop  the  region's 
leading  position  in  exploiting  and  commercialising  Arctic  natural  resources  while 
delivering sustainable development and job creation. 

To ensure the effectiveness of regional policy investments, smart specialisation strategies 
need to be in place ('ex-ante conditionality') before receiving the financial support of the 

6  As planned in the national or regional operational programmes for 2014-2020: 

https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/themes. 

7  EYE@RIS3 database: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eye-ris3  
8 

Implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies-A Handbook. European Commission,   
http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/s3-implementation-handbook  

3 

 
                                                            
 
European  Regional  Development  Fund  on  research  and  innovation  in  the  2014-2020 
period.  

Moreover,  to  support  the  process,  the  Commission  set  up  a  Smart  Specialisation 
Platform9, which, since 2011, advises Member States and regional authorities on how to 
design and implement their smart specialisation strategies. It facilitates mutual learning, 
data gathering, analysis, and networking opportunities for around 170 EU regions and 18 
EU national governments.  

These strategies often involve traditional sectors such as agri-food, forestry, tourism and 
textiles that evolve through incremental innovation. But they also include sectors linked 
to  the  deployment  of  key  enabling  technologies,  service  innovation  and  resource 
efficient-solutions  in  energy,  transport,  environment,  the  circular  economy,  nano-
technology and health that can create entirely new markets and industries. The strategies 
are built on a collaborative process that facilitates demand-led innovation and collective 
solutions.  

These  strategies  are  a  powerful  tool  that  helps  translating  horizontal  policies  and 
instruments  at  the  EU  and  national  level  to  the  regional  and  local  level  creating  links 
within  broader  innovation  ecosystems  and  encouraging  social  innovation.  They 
contribute  to  making  the  European  economy  more  competitive  and  resilient  to 
globalisation,  and  to  ensuring  that  it  generates  the  resources  necessary  to  provide  for  a 
fair distribution of its benefits. 

3.  KEY  CHALLENGES  AND  NEXT  STEPS:  BOOSTING  INNOVATION-LED 

GROWTH  

While evaluations foreseen under cohesion policy regulations will further help to identify 
the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach, it is clear that smart specialisation 
strategies  have  already  made  a  significant  contribution  in  terms  of  reorienting  the 
European  Union's  cohesion  policy,  Europe's  competitive  edge  relies  on  its  capacity  to 
promote  new  growth  models  at  regional  level,  by  targeting  investments  in  innovative 
sectors with significant growth potential and high added value.  

To achieve this, four challenges have been identified and need to be addressed:  

  Further reform of research and innovation systems within regions; 

 

Increasing cooperation in innovation investment across regions;  

  Leveraging  research  and  innovation  in  less  developed  and  industrial  transition 

regions;  

  Harnessing synergies and complementarities between EU policies and instruments. 

Further reform of research and innovation systems within regions 

3.1. 
As  evidenced  in  the  course  of  the  European  Semester  process10,  the  reform  of  research 
and  innovation  systems  has  a  clear  regional  dimension  which  should  embrace  three 

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/  

9 
10  The European Semester is a cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination within the EU. It is part 

of the European Union's economic governance framework. 

4 

 
                                                            
crosscutting elements: research and innovation, industrial transformation, and finance and 
investment11.  

As a prerequisite for cohesion policy investment, smart specialisation has contributed to 
putting in place reforms in about half of the Member States12 and helped to address many 
research  and  innovation  challenges.  However,  in  certain  cases,  the  unbalanced 
participation of representatives from various sectors including research, industry, higher 
education, public administration and civil society undermined broader reform efforts.  A 
major  focus  of  the  strategies  was  therefore  to  break  down  silos  between  various 
administrative bodies and improve multi-level governance.  

Reform efforts need to be intensified in order to create an enabling business environment 
and an efficient and transparent public administration to foster innovation and increasing 
dynamism in product and services markets and improving conditions for the creation and 
growth of start-ups13. At the same time, these efforts should also encourage investment in 
skills and human capital14 in line with the Blueprints for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills15, 
the Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education16 as well as making better use of clusters 
and support SMEs policy. The Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition17 can play an important 
role in this process, helping the labour market to respond to digital transformation across 
the EU. This will be complemented by the dialogue on cluster policy excellence18.  

  The Commission will step up its efforts to put at the disposal of national and regional 
authorities,  upon  demand  and  in  close  cooperation  with  the  concerned  Member 
States and regions, the available EU support to facilitate the design, implementation 
and evaluation of policy reforms in research and innovation.  

  The  Smart  Specialisation  Platform  continues  to  provide  support  to  implement 
national  and  regional  smart  specialisation  strategies.  In  addition,  on  demand,  the 
Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility will help Member States address obstacles in 
their  research  and  innovation  systems,  including  those  related  to  the  effective 
implementation of smart specialisation strategies.  

  Furthermore, the Structural Reform Support Service, which operates upon request 
from the Member States, is available to help design and implement reforms that can 
improve the business environment, the labour market, as well as equip people with 
the right skills, education and training for today's and tomorrow's job markets19. 

To  maximise  the  contribution  of  structural  reforms  to  innovation,  Member  States  are 
invited  to  reinforce  the  dialogue  with  all  concerned  stakeholders  in  the  course  of  the 
European  Semester  process,  including  regions  and  local  authorities.  They  should  also 
support  the  implementation  of  priorities  identified  in  smart  specialisation  strategies  by 
increasing the quality and openness of research and the higher education system, ensuring 

11  European Semester Thematic Fiche "Research and Innovation" 

https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/library/european-semester-thematic-fiche-research-and-innovation  
12  Study "Support of ESI Funds to the implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations and to 

structural reforms in Member States", 2017, European Commission. 

13  COM(2016) 733 final. 
14  COM(2017) 90 final. 
15  http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=7969  
16  COM(2017) 247 final. 
17  https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-skills-jobs-coalition  
18  This dialogue will take place during the forthcoming European Cluster Policy Forum discussions.  
19  Structural Reform Support Service Programme 2017-2020, Regulation (EU) No 2017/825. 

5 

 
                                                            
 
competitive  funding  of  research,  strengthening  knowledge  transfer,  linking  vocational 
education  and  training  to  innovation  systems  and  contributing  to  skills  intelligence  and 
skills matching in line with the New Skills Agenda20. 

3.2. 

Increasing cooperation in innovation investment across regions  

Smart specialisation strategies have been used to drive a more effective innovation policy 
and push interregional cooperation in new value chains across borders. Linking research 
and  innovation  actors  with  industrial  stakeholders  helps  to  exploit  complementarities  in 
the  development  of  products  and  process  design.  This  will  help  build  and  reshape  EU-
wide  value-chains  by  encouraging  the  synergy  of  investment  between  the  private  and 
public sector. The creation of stable pipelines of projects matching the strategic priorities 
identified should be developed by the relevant stakeholders together. 

It  is  thus  necessary to  develop  further  the inter-regional  and  cross-border  dimension  by 
creating  interregional  investment  opportunities  which  will  facilitate  scaling  up  regional 
and  local  innovation,  as  already  kick-started  in  the  context  of  the  Communication  on 
Clean Energy for all Europeans21.  

Stronger  strategic  inter-regional  cooperation  and  sustainable  linkages  between  regional 
ecosystems  along  smart  specialisation  priority  areas  can  increase  competitiveness  and 
resilience, as illustrated by the Vanguard initiative.  

The Vanguard Initiative for new growth through smart specialisation is driven by a 
political commitment by regions to use their smart specialisation strategies to boost new 
growth through bottom-up entrepreneurial innovation and industrial renewal in European 
priority areas. Thirty regions are now part of this initiative.  

The Vanguard Initiative seeks to lead by example in developing interregional cooperation 
and multi-level governance to help regional clusters and eco-systems to focus on priority 
areas  for  transforming  and  emerging  industries.  Vanguard  regions  seek  to  exploit 
complementarities identified in smart specialisation strategies in order to develop world-
class  clusters  and  cluster  networks,  in  particular  through  pilots  and  large-scale 
demonstrators.  

This led the Commission to set up, with support from its Smart Specialisation Platform, 
thematic platforms on industrial modernisation, energy and agri-food to help regions to 
work  together  on  their  smart  specialisation  priorities,  involving  policy  makers, 
researchers,  business,  clusters  and  civil  society22.  These  platforms  provide  a  unique 
opportunity  for  policymakers  at  EU,  national  and  regional  level  to  pool  experience  to 
address these priorities in a regional context, where change is felt most.  

Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms bring together 100 regions working together 
in  17  interregional  partnerships  to  date  on  common  topics  to  foster  innovation,  value 
chain  linkages  and  develop  joint  investments,  with  support  from  the  Commission 
services: 

  The 

industrial  modernisation  platform 

includes  partnerships  on  advanced 
manufacturing,  sustainable  manufacturing,  bioeconomy,  3D  printing,  medical 
technologies, innovative textiles, industry 4.0, sports and new nano-enabled products.  

20  COM(2016) 381 final. 
21  COM(2016) 860 final. 
22  See the accompanying Staff Working Document for details on the regional partnerships launched. 

6 

 
                                                            
  The energy platform includes partnerships on bioenergy, marine renewable energy, 

smart grids, solar energy and sustainable buildings. 

  The  agri-food  platform  includes  partnerships  on  high-tech  farming,  traceability, 

bioeconomy and agri-food and smart electronic systems. 

Further  efforts  are  necessary  to  integrate  other  large  European  initiatives  with  these 
platforms and their regional partnerships, to facilitate the commercialisation and scale-up 
of  inter-regional  innovation  projects  and  to  incentivise  joint  business  investment.  The 
thematic  Smart  Specialisation  Platforms  should  also  be  used  to  deepen  cooperation 
between less developed regions, regions in industrial transition and more advanced ones, 
to facilitate their industrial and technological transition. 

  The  Commission  will  put  in  place,  in  close  partnership  with  the  relevant  Member 
States, a pilot action by the end of 2017 to work in close collaboration with five to 
ten  thematic  partnerships  representing  policy-makers,  researchers,  businesses  and 
other innovation actors. Support for development of the pilot action will be provided 
by the European Regional Development Fund.  

  The  aim  will  be  to  test  approaches  to  commercialise  and  scale-up  inter-regional 
innovation  projects  that  have  the  potential  to  encourage  the  development  of 
European  value  chains.  These  partnerships  could  include  advanced  manufacturing 
and industry 4.0, the bioeconomy, big data, energy, low carbon transition, clean and 
connected mobility, health, cybersecurity, water and innovation in traditional sectors. 
This  work  will  build  on  the  close  working  relationship  developed  between  the 
Commission  services  and the partnerships developed in  the context of the thematic 
Smart Specialisation Platforms, and on relevant EU innovation initiatives23.  

Member States and regions with support from the Commission should build on clusters 
and  the  European  Institute  of  Innovation  and  Technology's  Knowledge  and  Innovation 
Communities (KICs), to develop investment pipelines for projects which are bankable for 
support from financial instruments, in particular through the European Fund for Strategic 
Investments, helping to attract private investment by backing up innovative projects that 
may need risk-coverage. 

Projects  which  are  small  in  nature  can  be  bundled  together  in  investment  platforms, 
bringing together different EU funds in the most efficient way and involving the private 
sector where appropriate.  

3.3. 

Leveraging research and innovation in less developed and industrial 
transition regions  

Less developed regions still face obstacles linked to fragmentation and sustainability of 
research  and  innovation  infrastructures  and  often  experience  difficulties  in  building 
innovation24.  While  smart 
institutional  and 
specialisation is relevant to all regions, less developed regions require specific attention 
with  regard  to  human  capital,  skills  development  and  a  more  inclusive  innovation 
process. Innovation actors in less developed regions are often not very well connected to 
the wider research and innovation community and global value chains.  

legal  environments  conducive 

to 

23  E.g.  the  Public  Private  Partnerships  supported  under  Horizon  2020  on  bioeconomy,  advanced 

manufacturing, and new energy technologies. 

24  SWD(2017) 132 final. 

7 

 
                                                            
Regions in industrial transition face specific challenges, notably where this is associated 
with  a  lack  of  an  appropriate  skills-base,  high  unit  labour  costs  and  deindustrialisation. 
These regions may be unable to attract sufficient extra-regional investment to encourage 
innovation  through  the  development  of  new  supply  chains,  as  well  as  sufficient 
commercial  research  structures  and  firms  that  could  form  the  basis  for  broad  industrial 
modernisation. There may be additional weaknesses in the capacity to exploit the funding 
opportunities offered by the resources available under European research and innovation 
and  industrial  competitiveness  programmes25,  while  they  do  not  receive  the  level  of 
support available to less developed regions under cohesion policy.  

Continuous  support  for  mutual  learning  is  therefore  essential.  The  Commission  has 
provided support through access to independent experts, such as the TAIEX Peer 2 Peer26 
and the Smart Specialisation Platform27. This has allowed regions to adopt best practices, 
benchmark  their  structures  against  world-class  standards,  map  the  diversity  of  research 
and  innovation  capacities  and  complementarities  in  EU  regions,  and  address  their 
weaknesses.  

Investment  in  human  capital  and  skills  development,  for  example  in  the  ICT  sector, 
supporting  business  creation,  e-justice  and  e-governance,  is  provided  via  the  European 
Social Fund in line with the New Skills Agenda. The European Social Fund also supports 
less developed regions in modernising their administration with a view to reforms, better 
regulation and good governance. 

The need to spread excellence and widen participation has also been supported through 
Horizon 2020 Teaming,  Twinning, European Research Area chairs and COST actions28 
and  the  "Stairway  to  Excellence"  project29.  Moreover,  the  Lagging  Regions  project30 
provides targeted support under cohesion policy to less developed regions to implement 
smart  specialisation  through  capacity-building  measures,  administrative  reform  and 
strengthened monitoring and evaluation.  

Under its Lagging Regions project, the European Commission and World Bank experts, 
together with Polish national and local authorities, have been working over the past year 
on  identifying  solutions  to  boost  economic  development  in  the  low-income  regions  of 
Podkarpackie  and  Świętokrzyskie,  in  Eastern  Poland.  Actions  include  the  transfer  of 
knowledge  from  academia  to  local  business,  for  example  in  the  aerospace  industry  in 
Podkarpackie,  upgrading  the  regional  environment  for  businesses,  and  improving  the 
skills of the local labour force.  

The  European  Institute  of  Innovation  and  Technology  through  its  Regional  Innovation 
Scheme  helps  further  to  broaden  participation31.  Finally,  the  development  of  a  pan-

25  Horizon 2020 and COSME - Europe’s programme for small and medium-sized enterprises. 
26  http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/policy/how/improving-investment/taiex-regio-peer-2-

peer/  

27  http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/  
28  Around  1%  of  the  Horizon  2020  budget  is  earmarked  for  this  support  to  less  research  intensive 
countries - https://ec.europa.eu/research/regions/index.cfm?pg=widening. COST supports networks of 
researchers with an emphasis on researchers from less research intensive countries.   

29  http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/stairway-to-excellence  
30  http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ris3-in-lagging-regions  
31  https://eit.europa.eu/activities/outreac/eit-regional-innovation-scheme-ris.  In  addition, 

the  Higher 
Education for Smart Specialisation (HESS) project advises regions on how to improve the involvement 
of Higher Education Institutions - http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/hess 

8 

 
                                                            
European  network  of  Digital  Innovation  Hubs32  and  other  research  and  innovation 
infrastructures will help SMEs manage their digital transformation. 

Targeted policy measures can help to address the specific needs of these regions and to 
successfully  implement  their  smart  specialisation  strategies,  with  a  particular  focus  on 
mutual  learning  and  sharing  of  good  practices  in  innovation  policy  implementation, 
governance and monitoring.  

By  the  end  of  2017  and  in  close  partnership  with  the  relevant  Member  States,  the 
Commission  will put  in place  a  pilot  action involving a limited number of test  regions 
expressing  their  interest  to  work  on  the  basis  of  their  respective  smart  specialisation 
strategies  in  order  to  promote  broad-based  innovation  to  address  the  challenges  of  the 
industrial transition. The action will seek to facilitate the combined use of existing EU 
instruments  and  programmes  managed  by  the  Commission  together  with  the  resources 
available  from  cohesion  policy,  with  the  aim  of  accelerating  the  innovation  uptake, 
removing  investment  barriers and  facilitating reskilling  and preparing  for  industrial and 
societal  change.  Support  for  development  of  the  pilot  action  will  be  provided  by  the 
European Regional Development Fund with targeted advisory support from the European 
Observatory for Clusters and Industrial Change.  

Member  States,  with  support  from  the  Commission,  should  better  address  the  needs  of 
less developed regions by reinforcing the focus on broad-based and open innovation, new 
collaborative  governance,  new  interregional  partnerships,  development  of  capacities  for 
absorbing  new  technologies,  connecting  the  local  economy  with  world-class  research, 
and widening participation in global innovation networks. 

3.4. 

Harnessing synergies and complementarities between EU policies and 
instruments 

Currently,  a  substantial  number  of  regional,  national  and  European  policy  programmes 
and instruments exist to encourage innovation, growth and jobs or promote interregional 
cooperation33.  A  better  linkage  of  these  policies  and  instruments  across  different 
governance levels is needed to increase their impact in delivering key European priorities. 
There  is  therefore  a  need  to  fully  exploit  synergies  and  develop  complementarities 
between  EU  funds  for  research  and  innovation,  cohesion  policy  and  industrial 
competitiveness measures to deliver essential investment. Smart specialisation provides a 
strategic framework to develop these complementarities34.  

To achieve this, the Commission already brought forward a broad range of measures in 
the context of the proposals for the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-202035.  

The European Fund for Strategic Investments, Horizon 2020 and cohesion policy allow 
the  combination  of  funds  in  a  single  project.  The  regulations  for  Horizon  2020  and 
cohesion  policy  have  aligned  rules  for  simplified  cost  options  and  have  increased  the 

32   https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-innovation-hubs  
33 

Instruments promoting cooperation across regional and national borders include: Joint Technology and 
Programming Initiatives and contractual Public Private Partnerships under the Horizon 2020, European 
Institute  of  Innovation  and  Technology,  Knowledge  and  Innovation  Communities,  Knowledge  and 
Sector  Skills  Alliances  under  Erasmus+,  European  Strategic  Cluster  Partnerships,  Enterprise  Europe 
Network, European Innovation Partnerships, Start Up Regions Network, Interreg. 

34  Through  'upstream  actions'  to  prepare  stakeholders  to  participate  in  Horizon  2020,  and  'downstream 
actions'  to  exploit  and  diffuse  research  and  innovation  results,  developed  under  Horizon  2020  and 
previous programmes, Annex 1 to the Common Provisions Regulation (EU) No1303/2013. 

35  COM(2011) 500 final. 

9 

 
                                                            
possibility  to  spend  more  cohesion  policy  funding  outside  programme  areas.  The 
Commission has also published guidelines on combining the European Fund for Strategic 
Investments with cohesion policy funds. 

The Commission has launched a number of initiatives (such as the Stairway to Excellence 
and the Seal of Excellence initiative) and produced guidance to encourage and facilitate 
synergies36 between different policy instruments. It has proposed a further simplification 
to  facilitate  the  currently  complex  combination  of  funding  from  Horizon  2020  and 
cohesion policy37.  

The  Stairway  to  Excellence  pilot  project  helps  close  the  innovation  gap  between  the 
EU  regions  by  supporting  the  implementation  of  smart  specialisation  strategies  by 
developing and exploiting the complementarities between cohesion policy, Horizon 2020 
and other EU funding programmes. The Seal of Excellence initiative helps SMEs to find 
alternative  funding  under  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund  and  other  sources 
for their innovation project ideas that were evaluated as excellent under Horizon 2020 but 
could not be supported due to limited resources. 

Commission  investment  envoys  can  provide  on  the  ground  in  the  Member  States 
support38 to public authorities and promoters in order to create stable pipelines of projects 
maximising  the  impact  of  the  EU  funds  and  drawing  on  the  expertise  of  the  European 
Investment Advisory Hub39.  

Evidence  suggests  that  there  has  been  improvement  in  coordination  at  the  level  of  the 
cohesion  policy  programmes40  in  the  strategic  management  of  research  and  innovation 
investment.  However,  at  project  level  there  is  still  a  need  for  a  greater  clarity  of  roles, 
responsibilities and coordination, notably in relation to eligibility rules, procurement and 
state aid and with transnational projects41.  

  The Commission will continue to work in close dialogue with national and regional 
authorities  to  address  the  complexities  in  the  combined  use  of  different  EU 
instruments  in  order  to  maximise  investment  in  projects  targeting  research  and 
innovation,  competitiveness  and  productivity.  With  the  help  of  the  investment 
envoys  on  the  ground  and  through  the  European  Investment  Advisory  Hub,  the 
Commission  will  offer  assistance  to  maximise  the  mobilisation  of  private  sector 
capital. 

  The  Commission  will  work  in  close  cooperation  with  national  and  regional 
authorities  also  to  facilitate  and  clarify  the  combined  use  of  different  funds  in 
relation to state aid rules, public procurement and interregional cooperation.  

  The Commission will look into possibilities of providing assistance on the ground by 
means  of  dedicated  investment  envoys.  These  envoys  would  act  as  a  first  point  of 

36  http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/guides/synergy/synergies_en.pdf  
37  COM(2016) 605 final. 
38  COM(2016) 581 final. 
39  http://www.eib.org/eiah/index.htm  
40 

'The use of new provisions during the programming phase of the European Structural and Investment 
funds' 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/policy/how/studies_integration/new_provision_progr_esif_
report_en.pdf  

41  High  Level  Expert  Group  on  Monitoring  Simplification  for  Beneficiaries  of  ESI  Funds. 
https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/hlg_16_0008_00_conclusions_and_recomendations_
on_goldplating_final.pdf  

10 

 
                                                            
contact for local stakeholders to maximise the impact of different EU funds. They 
would act upon demand and would direct the specific requests to the right facilities 
within the European Investment Advisory Hub to further encourage the combination 
of different funds. 

  The  Commission  will  provide  stakeholders  with  a  comprehensive  mapping  of 
support  actors  and  state-of-the-art  facilities  in  regional  ecosystems  to  foster 
cross-regional partnering and access to competences.  

  The Commission will continue to work with European Parliament and Council in the 
context of the ongoing discussions on the Omnibus Regulation42 to further facilitate 
transnational  investments,  such  as  the  implementation  of  operations  outside  the 
programme area. 

Member States are encouraged to work closely with stakeholders to make full use of the 
simplification  possibilities  that  are  currently  available.  Managing  authorities  for  the 
European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  in  the  Member  States  should  organise 
dedicated simplified calls for projects which have received the Seal of Excellence based 
on the good practice developed in the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and Spain.  

4.  CONCLUSIONS 

The  EU,  its  Member  States  and  regions  are  all  facing  challenges  in  the  context  of 
globalisation.  This  new  world  brings  opportunities  that  Europe  must  seize  while 
remaining  committed  to  a  fair  distribution  of  the  resulting  benefits.  It  is  essential  to 
exploit the full potential of innovation to modernise the economy, in order to support the 
EU social model and the quality of life of European citizens. Europe needs to empower, 
defend  and  protect  its  citizens,  its  regions  and  its  industry  to  create  the  prosperity  and 
jobs  that  citizens  of  Europe  expect. To  achieve this, it is  necessary  that  all  EU  policies 
and instruments work together in a coordinated manner, across governance levels, so as 
to move towards a resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth at territorial level.  

In  this  context,  smart  specialisation  strategies  are  already  making  a  difference  by 
improving the quality of cohesion policy investment in innovation and have thus become 
an integral part of Europe's approach to innovation. It is also making a difference in the 
way  European  regions  are  designing  and  implementing  their  innovation  policies  and 
involving businesses.  

The  experience  acquired  so  far  with  the  current  cohesion  policy  programmes,  together 
with  the  actions  and  pilot  projects  put  forward  in  this  Communication,  will  provide  a 
useful  input  in  preparing  the  next  Multiannual  Financial  Framework.  To  this  end,  the 
Commission  will  monitor  progress  in  implementing  these  actions.  Smart  specialisation 
represents  a  new  way  of  working  together,  which  ensures  stronger  local  and  regional 
participation in decision making, and whose potential can be scaled-up for the benefit of 
the EU's regions and the EU as a whole. This approach may be replicated and used in a 
broader context as a useful tool to implement the future EU budget43 in the most effective 
way. 

42  COM(2016) 605 final. 
43  European Commission's Reflection paper the future of EU finances - COM(2017) 358 final.  

11