European Commission - Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

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Strengthening the enterprises' innovation potential in Wielkopolska

Region
POLSKA›MAKROREGION PÓŁNOCNO-ZACHODNI›Wielkopolskie
Title of measure
Full title in national language:
Wzmocnienie potencjalu innowacyjnego przedsisbiorstw Wielkopolski
Duration:
2014 to 2020
Policy objectives Plus
2.4. Demonstration projects, proto-types and proofs of concepts
4.1. Direct funding to business R&D and innovation
5.4. Innovation management and advisory services
Presentation of the measure:

The main objective of this support measure is to increase R&D activities of companies as a result of increased private investment in innovation within regional smart specialisations. It is one of the new instruments foreseen as Activity 1.2. to be financed within the Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020. The design of this measure was inspired by a similar instrument implemented at national level during the 2014-2020 programming period that provided support for business R&D activities.
Within this support measure, the funding will be provided for the following types of projects:

  1. Support for R&D activities related to regional smart specialisations in enterprises (including creation and/or development of the R&D infrastructure);
  2. Support for the preparation for implementation of (own or purchased) research results, technologies and intellectual property rights;
  3. Implementation of R&D results obtained in projects;
  4. Support for R&D infrastructure in enterprises;
  5.  Creation of an incubation system and quality support system for R&D&I projects in the regions;
  6. Continuation of the activities within the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process, including experimentation and searching for development niches.

The target group of this support measure are enterprises and their networks/groupings, science-industry consortia, purposive vehicles/spin-offs set up by public research instititutions, as well as local government units and their groupings.
The financial allocation form EU funds for this measure amounts to 81,520,000 EUR.

Keywords:
Applied business research
Innovation support services
Budget, source and type of funding
Year2014201520162017201820192020
National public funds
Regional public funds
EU Structural Funds
Private funds
Other
Form of funding provided
Grants
Policy learning
To what extent the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning?:
There is evidence of an impact of the measure based on verifiable indicators or an evaluation (e.g. sales generated from new products, jobs created, etc.)
Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence:

According to the mid-term evaluation report on the Wielkopolskie Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020 published in 2019, under this measure, 170 out of 371 applications submitted for co-financing were approved. The number of projects amounted to 126. As much as 45.7% of the allocation was contracted. Such programme indicators as the number of firms receiving aid, number of firms receiving subsidies, as well as the number of firms cooperating with research centres will be significantly exceeded. The cause for exceeding the indicator is the low value of projects, below PLN 1.3m, as compared to PLN 25m permissible in the Detailed Description of Priority Axes. The evaluators noted that the only indicator which will not be fully achieved will be the private investments supplementing public aid for enterprises (subsidies) indicator which will, however, achieve a satisfactory level of 85% of the target value. Since the interest in calls under Activity 1.2 had been very high, the evaluators made an optimistic assumption that the entire amount for the call announced in February 2019 (PLN 50m) would be contracted.

What are the most important “Do’s and Don’ts” that regional stakeholders should be aware of when launching a similar measure?:

In summary, the most important “Do’s and Don’ts” when planning a similar measures are as follows:

  • Make sure that the level of funding is sufficient to perform the planned activities;
  • Put in place comprehensive selection process/criteria;
  • Avoid fragmentation of efforts (too many projects spread across too many thematic areas); and
  • Guarantee professional and flexible management during the implementation phase.
     
Would you recommend this measure as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions ?:
Yes
Organisation(s) responsible
Marshal Office of the Wielkopolska Region
Evaluation report(s)
Mid-term evaluation of the Wielkopolskie Regional Operational Programme for the years 2014-2020