Digital Agenda Funding

Project Status: Live Project

Project Leader: Jose Manuel San Emeterio

EU Programme: INTERREG Europe

Project Budget: €2,201,324

Start Date: Apr, 2016

Finish Date: Mar, 2020

Project Website: http://www.interregeurope.eu/erudite/

The aim of the project is to:

Assist rural and more marginal urban regions across Europe to develop, design, implement and improve digital services that capitalise on the potential offered by High Speed Broadband Networks and catalyse regional innovation capacity, enabling public administrations, business, third sector organisations and citizens to better deliver sustainable economic and social benefits from a digital single market and support long-term territorial prospects.

Specific objectives are to:

Test and refine open innovation methodology, as applied to digital and wider service delivery, that integrate social and economic return on investment studies (SEROI) and demand stimulation as a means of involving relevant decision makers, project promoters and wider stakeholders.
Create a flexible monitoring tool based on SEROI indicators that enable public administrations and private/community actors to measure the impact of their policy and investment decisions over time and in real time.
Examine how public administrations can use the two mechanisms described above to improve the management of the policy instrument through evaluating the appropriateness of the new methodology for monitoring or evaluating measures or for selecting projects through improved evaluation techniques for measuring their economic and social impacts.
Disseminate the process and results widely in each partner territory and to the community of potential users of the project’s results including at European level.
Use the territorial exchange process and the regional stakeholder groups to share knowledge and promote genuine interregional and intraregional cooperation.

Nièvre, France
Nièvre Numérique(Lead Partner)
Lead Partner with overall resp. for delivering the project and liaison with EU

Jean-Dimas Malot
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Burgundy, France
Burgundy Regional Council(Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in Burgundy


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Donegal, Ireland
ERNACT Network(Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in Ireland

Jose Manuel San Emeterio
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GyőrMosonSopron, Hungary
Pannon Business Network Association(Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in Venice

Robert Nemeth
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Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology(Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in Slovenia


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Ljubljana, Slovenia
University of Ljubljana(Partner)
Provision and support to the consortium on Open Innovation methodologies 

Emilija Stojmenova
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South Ostrobothnia, Finland
Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia(Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in South Ostrobothnia

Elina Manninen
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South Ostrobothnia, Finland
Suupohja Economic Development Agency (SEK)(Partner)
Provision and support to the consortium on digital services design and development

Hanna Hirsimaki
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Stockholm, Sweden
Acreo AB, Swedish ICT Research Institute(Partner)
Provide the project with a quantitative analysis of the socioeconomic return on investment (SROI).

Marco Forzati
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Västernorrland, Sweden

ALAV (Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in Västernorrland

Jennie Olofsson

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Venezia, Italy

City of Venice (Partner)
Implementing the SEROI+ methodolody to develop a digital services action plan in Venice

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Main outcome from the project is an action plan to develop a Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) combining physical and virtual dimensions oriented to provide and co-build digital services and promote digital activity among the Inishowen community in Donegal as a key factor for social and economic growth in the county.

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

ERUDITE partners have successfully developed and extended High Speed Broadband infrastructure to enable a rising number of stakeholders and citizens to contribute to the digital economy and society. To fully exploit the economic and social potential of these networks, new services need to be designed to meet public, private and community needs and justify public investments in infrastructure and uses.

To achieve these aims, the project will undertake the design of new services supported by Open Innovation processes involving and empowering businesses, citizens and public administrations; thereby stimulating demand and local innovation capacity potential, enabling stakeholders to be partners in the creation and operation of services that improve territorial potential.

To increase understanding of the design, operation and impacts of services, the Open Innovation process will be supported by Social and Economic Return on Investment (SEROI) studies providing data to illustrate global social and economic impacts and support more targeted investments.