ROLE OF CITIES SUPPORTING INNOVATION Jaanus Vahesalu Manager

ROLE OF CITIES SUPPORTING INNOVATION Jaanus Vahesalu Manager of International Projects

INTRODUCTION Innovation questionnaire • Objective: - to develop some discussion points on the role of cities in supporting innovation to move towards economic recovery - to share experiences of supporting innovation and find out best practices to present during EDF meeting • 34 cities participating, 12 responses received - Belfast, Edinburgh, Gijon, Hague, Helsinki, Nuremburg, Poznan, Prague, Rotterdam, San Sebastian, Sunderland, Vienna

How do cities support innovation? • Different initiatives and development programmes - provision of facilities for start-up and growth, coaching, access to research, finance and markets e. g CREA project (Gijon), Forum Virium (Helsinki) - clustering projects e. g ICT cluster (Poznan, Tallinn) - sectoral programmes e. g Software City (Sunderland), CI Development Programme (Belfast) - redevelopment of business premises for innovative companies e. g Caballero Factory for CI (the Hague) - test beds for companies e. g Living Labs (Helsinki) - venture capital funds e. g Erasmus MC Biomedical Fund (Rotterdam) - public procurements e. g Rotterdam Sustainable City, e-services (Tallinn)

Strategic approach towards innovation • • Few cities have their local innovation strategies, support of innovation is described more or less in local/regional Strategic Plans or Local Economic Development Plans Close involvement of cities in the development of local competence centre, technology or science parks and clusters, as: - founder or partner - (co-)financer or the project or development activities - facilitator between private companies and universities Cities, who have drafted an economic recovery plan (e. g Rotterdam, Belfast, Tallinn), have focused some measures directly to innovation (e. g investments into energy-saving technologies, digitalization, redevelopment of brownfield areas etc) Funding - regional or local budgets - European funds: INTERREG, ERDF, ESF

How should public sector intervene to foster innovation? • • • Support clustering, networks Provide funding for companies (for product development, patents, trainings, etc) Use more public procurement as a tool for innovation Provide funding for universities (attract talents, support R&D) Create a venture capital fund for innovative projects Special incentives for migrant workers

THANK YOU! E-mail: jaanus. vahesalu@tallinnlv. ee ettevotja. tallinn. ee