On Tuesday 10 July, the European Commission announced that it will pursue the initiative jointly launched in 2014 with the European Parliament to support innovation in low growth and low-income regions.
The initiative involves Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Croatia. The initiative is coordinated by the European Commission (more specifically by DG Regional and Urban Policy) and the Joint Research Centre.
It aims to help the regions involved effectively tackle existing obstacles such as the interaction between different economic communities and the universities in the context of implementing smart specialisation strategies.
The programme is jointly developed with the European Parliament and has been implemented over the 2014-16 period. It has been extended on one occasion for two years.
The initiative has a €3 million budget for 2018 and 2019. This initiative comes on top of the Stairway to Excellence initiative (see EUROPE 12045), which aims to consolidate smart specialisation strategies in view of the next budget cycle. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)