Digital Agenda Funding

DIGITAL AGENDA PROJECTS

Digital tech SMEs at the service of Smart Specialisation Strategies

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DEVISE = Digital tech SMEs at the service of Smart Specialisation Strategies
Coordinating actions to foster the growth of digital SMEs providing innovative solutions that allow other sectors to be more competitive.

Project Status:

Live Project

Project Leader:

Jose Manuel San Emeterio

Funding Programme:

INTERREG Europe

Project Budget:

€1,652,750

Start Date:

Jun, 2018

Finish Date:

Nov, 2022

Project Website:

http://www.interregeurope.eu/devise/

The aim of the project is to:

By 2021, increase by 15% the number of digital tech SMEs enabling competitiveness in other regional strategic sectors through improved supporting policy instruments.

Specific objectives are to:

Design and implement more effective supporting instruments focused on the growth of digital SMEs as providers of innovative solutions, enabling the competitiveness and innovation engagement of SMEs from other smart sectors of the participating regions.
Establish digital transformation enabling environments in 10 European regions cooperating together.
Facilitate the coordination and increased collaboration between SMEs of the digital sector and those belonging to other regional smart specialisation sectors.

Region	Organisation / Role
Border, Midland and Western Ireland	Northern & Western Regional Assembly Project Partner
Cantabria Spain	Gobierno de Cantabria Project Partner
Derry & Strabane United Kingdom	Derry City & Strabane District Council Project Partner
Donegal Ireland	ERNACT Project Co-ordinator
Mayenne France	Laval Mayenne Technopole Project partner
San Sebastián Spain	Fomento de San Sebastián Project Partner
South Ostrobothnia Finland	Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia Project Partner
Varna Bulgaria	Business Agency Association Project Partner
West Flanders Belgium	Voka - Kamer van Koophandel West-Vlaanderen Project Partner
West Romania Romania	WRDA Project Partner

The ERNACT regions focus on adapting and transferring services, approaches or digital knowhow between regions. Please examine the following table to see a list of specific items transferred over the past few years

DEVISE aims to give response to the current challenge that 10 European regions are facing to unlock and exploit the potential that digital tech SMEs have as enabler for the competitiveness of other SMEs belonging to sectors included in their Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3).

Although significant progress has been made in the definition of more focused policies supporting these strategic sectors, more coordinated actions are required to foster the growth of digital SMEs providing innovative solutions that allow other sectors to be more competitive. Taking this into consideration, DEVISE aims, by 2021, to increase by 15% the number of digital tech SMEs enabling competitiveness in other regional strategic sectors through improved supporting policy instruments.

In doing so, the project will follow an innovative intersectoral approach involving all the relevant stakeholders in the process of analysing the current context, learning from other EU regions and defining improved policies integrating the lessons learnt.

DEVISE will produce concrete outputs to meet this objective and other long-term effects. This includes the definition of 10 regional action plans that will help policy makers improve the effectiveness of the instruments they are responsible, through more focused actions supporting the issue addressed in DEVISE. We will also put a lot of effort to set up 10 regional digital transformation enabling environments that will cooperate together. DEVISE will facilitate the creation of these environments formed by digital and other key sectors. Policy makers, business support organisations, educational centres and SMEs from the digital and other smart specialisation sectors will be the main participants and beneficiaries of these environments expected to last beyond DEVISE’s lifetime. These environments will bring improved coordination and increased collaboration between the digital sector and those belonging to other smart specialisation sectors.