Better RIS3 Governance

• Some regions are adopting challenge-driven S3 to address regional societal challenges. This shift towards, for example, the green and digital twin transitions, offers European regions the opportunity to build new governance arrangements to address societal challenges. The region of Castilla y León, Spain, has adopted new Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) mechanisms such as EDP for the development of transformative challenges and working groups to promote flagship initiatives in an open public-private partnership framework.
• Developing institutional capacities for effective S3 governance is a continuous process that requires time. Building long-term trust, enabling learning mechanisms, and retaining the right persons with strong knowledge of the regional institutional context are necessary enabling factors for developing institutional capacities for effective S3 governance. It is essential for regions to have operational teams consisting of competent staff to support the implementation of policies and strategic initiatives.
• Regions must select relevant key performance indicators that are aligned with guidance issues and can assist in piloting progress. These indicators can be shared with the regional innovation actors to foster a ‘unity of purpose’, particularly regarding the regional strategic S3 priorities (see the good practice Transparent Presentation and Communication of Innovation Projects Funded by ERDF in Asturias, Spain).
• Regional animators can be identified and ‘contracted’ to handle certain parts of the EDP. For example, cluster managers can play an important role in engaging SMEs and larger companies in the EDP process.
• The EDP must recognise different sub-regional strengths and complementarities to rally different sub-regional actors (for instance municipalities) around a common vision.

Explore the rest of the key takeaways in the follow-up note.