The European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions are organising a High-Level Event of the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) “From Playbook to implementation” as a bridge between smart specialisation and other EU policies to promote innovation-driven territorial transformation. The all-day event will take place on 28 March 2023 in Brussels with participation possible in person and online.

The PRI Pilot Action was launched in May 2022 as a complementary approach building on positive experiences with smart specialisation strategies (S3). 74 territories across Europe have participated in the Pilot, including 48 ERRIN member regions and cities.

Among the participants of the event on 28 March will be the Presidents and Regional Ministers of the 74 territories, Commissioner Gabriel, Commissioner Ferreira and the President of the CoR, Alves Cordeiro. World-leading experts in place-based innovation and territorial development will also be present to jointly:

• debate on how to turn theory on systemic territorial transformation into policy practice by operationalising scientific findings in a clear methodological approach that can serve local needs while contributing to European goals;
• discuss the need to mobilise all levels of government to foster system level innovations to build thriving regional innovation ecosystems in line with the implementation of the New European Innovation Agenda;
• renew the territorial commitment to identify areas, technologies, value chains and local missions of common interest, to rally all available resources, create synergies among existing mechanisms, and to cooperate across boardera to pursue our common objectives.

ERRIN Director Pirita Lindholm will take part as a speaker in the panel debate on "Interregional cooperation in PRI supporting the New European Innovation Agenda".

Physical participation in the event in Brussels is possible upon registration and will be followed by a networking cocktail hosted by the Commission. For participation online, registration is not required - the event will be fully public via live stream.

Learn more, find the agenda, presentations and recording from the event here.

In advance of this upcoming high-level event, ERRIN Smart Specialisation Working Group organised an in-person meeting on "Steering PRI – expectations and future directions" on 14 March 2023. Participating ERRIN members were able to hear about the PRI state of play and achievements so far, discuss how they could benefit from the initiative now and express expectations in terms of support, as well as reflect on how the PRI should continue beyond the Pilot. Logged-in ERRIN members may find more details and presentations from the meeting here.