About

Innovation Diffusion is critical to S3. Knowledge and innovation need to be able to diffuse within the innovation system and throughout the territory if smart and inclusive growth is to be achieved. A better understanding of this process is essential to leverage on regional strengths and conduct place-based policy making.

This is why the first fulfilment criterion of Policy Objective 1 “A smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation” is precisely concerned with this aspect. Regions have indeed been required to develop an “Up-to-date analysis of bottlenecks for innovation diffusion, including digitalisation” as part of their S3 design.

Critical aspects to be explored within the S3 CoP include:

• The strengths and weaknesses in the adoption of new technologies by SMEs
• The failure of universities and RTOs in meeting the needs of companies in their ecosystem
• The inefficiencies of innovation agencies in facilitating knowledge flows and coordination problems with other public agencies
• The lack of knowledge transfer from multinational companies to national companies

S3 CoP activities

The S3 CoP Working Group on Innovation Diffusion kicked off in June 2023 and pursues the following aims:

1. To collect and document knowledge and good practices in different European regions
2. To identify common needs, problems, and challenges
3. To co-develop, support, deploy and monitor solutions to such challenges

The working group meets twice a year, for three years, and comprises experts from the quadruple helix.

It works towards identifying and discussing a set of implementation challenges, devising activities to address them through peer-learning and expert support directly with regions. All the outcomes will be published and elaborated to ensure that they can be of support to all EU regions.

S3 Webinar on Innovation diffusion

On 23rd May 2024, the S3 Community of Practice (S3CoP) Working Group on Innovation Diffusion hosted a webinar titled Understanding the bottlenecks to innovation diffusion: insights from EU regions. This webinar is part series of webinars that the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, with the support of the S3 Community of Practice Secretariat, is organising for S3 stakeholders from across regions in EU Member States.   

In this webinar, S3 practitioners, experts, policymakers, and other key stakeholders come together to engage in this webinar to discuss the main challenges that EU regions are facing when trying to foster innovation diffusion.

You can watch the webinar below.

External initiatives and publications