Today's urgent challenges are inherently complex and systemic and will not be solved by individual actors or territories in isolation. Fostering enabling innovation ecosystems across the European Union (EU) requires a systemic approach that is inclusive and collaborative, involves diverse actors, institutions and places, maximises the value of innovation to all, and ensures equitable diffusion of its benefits.

As highlighted in the European Commission Communication on a New European Innovation Agenda^[1], by increasing the inclusion and interconnection of less represented regions and actors into a more strongly integrated European ecosystem, the EU can capitalise on the experience, needs, visions, and perceptions of an increasingly diverse range of people, companies and places. In doing so, it can also take forward a uniquely inclusive European innovation model that is sustainable, guards against substantial labour market and wage gaps, and associated threats to territorial and social cohesion.

Moreover, such well-connected and diverse ecosystems provide innovative companies with the necessary support and conditions to thrive, i.e. through additional capabilities, data, customers, knowledge, and talents. Network connectivity within and between innovation ecosystems greatly contributes to sustainable business growth with high societal value. Therefore, the actions of this destination aim at strengthening and expanding cooperation between innovation players to better support the next generation of innovative companies whose solutions will lead the shift towards a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.

Besides stronger innovation performance, increased competitive sustainability, and more rapid transitions to a green and digital society, ecosystem integration can provide ecosystem actors and companies with access to new resource, markets, customers, and contribute to disruptive strategies and innovative solutions. By being actively engaged in their local, regional, national, and European networks, companies can increase their overall growth potential.

This destination offers a holistic package of actions that:

• Strengthen innovation ecosystems across the EU through fostering more efficient, inclusive, gender diverse, and connected innovation ecosystems, by accelerating the development and deployment of innovation, including deep tech^[2] innovation and encouraging co-planning, co-implementation, and co-investments around European strategic priority areas;
• Ensure the inclusion of all key innovation players from across the quadruple helix,^[3], and all EU territories, including rural areas^[4];
• Mobilise policies, funding instruments (EU, national, regional) and fostering synergies between them;
• Improve public and private buyers’ capacity to procure innovative solutions and enhance coordination on innovation procurement initiatives within Member States and Associated Countries;
• Improve the connection of individual innovators with other ecosystem actors and innovation support providers;
• Ensure openness and cross-fertilisation of the innovation ecosystem within and beyond the EU's borders.

In particular, the actions under this destination should promote the creation of links:

• Between all key innovation stakeholders, including the private sector, in particular between SMEs, start-ups and other innovators, including social innovators with investors, industry and public and/or private buyers for faster access to funds and markets and the public sector including authorities in charge of national, regional or local innovation policies and programmes and bodies responsible for smart specialisation strategies; also between SMEs, start-ups and foundations, civil society organisations, citizens, and individual inventors; with universities and research and technology organisations (RTOs) as sources of innovation and talent, to ensure that innovations match existing needs, values, and expectations of society, thereby accelerating deployment and up-take towards tackling societal challenges, and, if applicable, with innovation actors from peripheral or rural innovation ecosystems (such as start-up villages^[5]);
• Among ‘innovation leaders’ and ‘strong innovators’ with ‘moderate’ and ‘emerging innovators’^[6] across the EU and Associated Countries^[7] to increase innovation cohesion^[8];
• With networks such as National Contact Points, Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRIs^[9]), the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), and European Innovation Council (EIC) communities, the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), clusters and Euroclusters, European university alliances, Missions, pan-European platforms such as Startup Europe, public and private regional or local innovation actors, in particular incubators and innovation hubs (e.g. European Research Area hubs and Digital Innovation Hubs), that could be interconnected to favour partnering among innovators.

Where appropriate, the applicants should consider and actively seek synergies with possibilities for further funding from other relevant EU, national and/or regional innovation programmes, including Cohesion Policy funds, the Recovery and Resilience Fund, the EU's External Action instruments, the Economic and Investment Plans for the Western Balkans, Eastern and Southern Neighbourhoods, and other public and private funds or financial instruments.

Expected impact

Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to strengthening robust interconnected innovation ecosystems and creating a favourable environment to promote the scalability potential of businesses, including in the deep tech sector, and more specifically to one or several of the following impacts:

• Interconnected, inclusive, and more efficient innovation ecosystems across the EU that draw on the existing strengths of European, national, regional, and local ecosystems and engage new, less well-represented stakeholders and less advanced innovation territories, including rural areas, to set, undertake, and achieve collective ambitions tackling challenges for the benefit of society, including green, digital, and social transitions, and advancing the European Research Area and the New European Innovation Agenda;
• Enhance cross-border network connectivity and inter-regional collaboration of regional innovation valleys by reinforcing their capacity to create, reshore, and renew European value chains towards the sustainable green and digital transition and the EU's open strategic autonomy in EU countries and/or regions;
• Strengthen and expand cooperation between innovation ecosystems worldwide;
• Foster more inclusive and gender equal innovation ecosystems;
• Reducing territorial inequalities in access to innovation support.

Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems: Regional Innovation Valley Label

The New European Innovation Agenda’s flagship on accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide aims to accelerate innovation and unlock excellence across the EU through various tools. It focuses on creating the basis for the emergence of connected regional innovation valleys across the EU, notably involving regions with a lower innovation performance, by building on strategic areas of regional strength and specialisation, in support of key EU priorities.

In line with the New European Innovation Agenda, the Commission intends to identify up to 100 regions committed to enhance the coordination and directionality of their R&I investment and policies, at regional level. It is expected that these regions will prioritise 3-4 inter- regional innovation projects including in deep tech innovation, linked to key EU priorities.

The Commission will award the “Regional Innovation Valley” Label ^[10] to regions that submitted an application to a dedicated call for expression of interest ^[11] and which, in the opinion of independent experts, demonstrate a clear commitment to:

1. Enhance the coordination and directionality of the region’s R&I investment and policies, at regional level in support of key EU priorities and to address the most burning challenges facing the EU, namely reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, increasing global food security, mastering the digital transformation (including cybersecurity), improving healthcare and achieving circularity;
2. Engage, building on shared or complementary smart specialisation areas (where applicable), in interregional collaboration to develop innovation, including deep tech innovation, and help increase innovation cohesion by addressing Europe’s persistent innovation divide between regions at different levels of development and/or innovation performance by including regions with lower innovation performance;
3. Strengthen and connect their regional innovation ecosystems, including for example through joint innovation action plans to constitute connected regional innovation valleys building on their Smart Specialisation Strategies (containing milestones and targets) and, where applicable, on the participation in the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRIs).

The award of the Regional Innovation Valley Label is a recognition of the above commitments of regions and does not result in receiving funding under the Horizon Europe Programme.

[1] A New European Innovation Agenda, COM(2022) 332 final

[2] Deep tech innovation aims to provide concrete solutions to our societal problems by finding its source in a deep interaction with the most recent scientific and technological advances and by seeking to produce a profound impact in the targeted application areas.

[3] A model of cooperation between industry, academia, civil society and public authorities, with a strong emphasis on citizens and their needs.

[4] Long-term vision for the EU’s Rural areas (COM(2021)345 final.

[5] More information under "Start-up villages: a commitment to a long-term vision for rural areas."

[6] References: Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS), European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), Global Innovation Index (GII).

[7] Associated countries are described in General Annex B.

[8] The work programme will act in complementarity with the “Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area” work programme

[9] More information under "Partnerships for Regional Innovation."

[10] The “Regional Innovation Valley” Label will also be awarded to successful applicants under the EIE ("Successful applicant regions under this call topic will be recognised as “regional innovation valleys"") and Interregional Innovation Investment Instrument (I3) calls under European Regional Development Fund ("Under this call for proposals regions will be recognised as Regional Innovation Valleys...")

[11] Flagship 3: Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide - European Commission (europa.eu)

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