Browsing by Author "Fellnhofer, Katharina"

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    Facilitating the participation of civil society in regional planning: Implementing quadruple helix model in Finnish regions
    (Elsevier Limited, 2022-01) Roman, Mona; Fellnhofer, Katharina; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
    The engagement of a wide range of stakeholders has become a key element in regional planning, particularly in the development of regional research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (RIS3) in Europe. The quadruple helix model from the literature on regional innovation systems has been raised on the forefront of RIS3. This comes in spite of the fact that the literature surrounding the quadruple helix model (i.e., the collaboration among the university, industry, government, and civil society) is still in its infancy compared to the well-established triple helix model. Our paper addresses this gap and explores how regional authorities can facilitate the participation of the fourth helix (civil society) and ensure democracy of the participatory policy process. We adopted a grounded theory approach and collected primary data through interviews with regional authorities in Finland. Based on 28 interviews from all 18 Finnish mainland regions, we identified three mechanisms for facilitating the participation of civil society: information exchange, feedback, and co-creation. For policy-makers, our paper provides recommendations on how to overcome impediments in the engagement of civil society in regional planning.
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    Intelligence and Co-Creation in Smart Specialisation Strategies: Towards the Next Stage of RIS3
    (European Lifelong Learning Initiave (ELLI), 2021) Komninos, Nicos; Kakderi, Christina; Panori, Anastasia; Garcia, Eva; Fellnhofer, Katharina; Reid, Alasdair; Cvijanović, Vladimir; Roman, Mona A.; Deakin, Mark; Mora, Luca; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; Edinburgh Napier University
    The white paper on “Intelligence and Co-creation in Smart Specialisation Strategies” outlines some key conclusions from the Online S3 project, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission. The Online S3 project has produced an online platform composed of software applications and roadmaps that facilitate the design and implementation of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Using a baseline set of methodologies for strategy design, Online S3 is advancing the understanding of RIS3 as a place-based and evidence-driven innovation policy, relying on large datasets and software for user engagement, co-creation and collective intelligence in policy design. In this white paper, the core building blocks of RIS3 are presented, as they appear in EU documents and related literature, such as ex ante conditionalities, stakeholder engagement, specialisation by diversification, entrepreneurial discovery, policy co-design, monitoring and assessment. This white paper also discusses weaknesses of the current period and what can be done better in the near future; thus, puts RIS3 in retrospect and prospect for 2021-2027. At the same time, it looks into critical dimensions for the next stage of RIS3, focusing on how strategies can be improved by datasets and software, enabling the implementation of complex methods; thus, facilitating collective intelligence and co-creation of solutions, which both are able to usher a transition from the triple to quadruple helix model of collaboration. Finally, the annex presents a short description of the 28 software applications and the 4 roadmaps hosted on the Online S3 Platform, which enable the use of datasets and sophisticated methodologies by policy-makers.
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    SMART SPECIALISATION IN FINNISH REGIONS: HOW TO FACILITATE CONTINUOUS ENTREPRENEURIAL DISCOVERY PROCESS?
    (2018-04-25) Roman, Mona; Nyberg, Timo; Fellnhofer, Katharina; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; LUT University; Nunes, Breno; Emrouznejad, Ali; Bennett, David; Pretorius, Leon
    Smart specialisation was launched as the innovation policy of European Union (EU) to foster regional innovation and economic transformation. The existence of research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) was set as a prerequisite for European regions to be eligible for receiving funding for European structural investment funds (ESIF). Today, the focus of European Commission (EC) is to strengthen the sustainability aspect of the smart specialisation approach. It is not enough that regions develop smart specialisation strategy as a one-time effort. The regions should ensure the establishment of continuous collaboration with the entrepreneurial actors to realize smart specialisation strategy, to assess the results of the implementation efforts and to refine strategy when needed. There has been few studies in prior research related to continuous entrepreneurial discovery process and the underlying mechanisms to sustain stakeholders’ engagement. Our paper explores how regional councils in Finland facilitate continuous stakeholder interaction in the context of smart specialisation. The objective is to identify key mechanisms for continuous entrepreneurial discovery process. As key findings of our semi-structured interviews with the regional councils in Finland, we identify the development of specific frameworks and tools, the establishment of horizontal and vertical innovation networks and the integration of smart specialisation in regional development cycle as key mechanisms to facilitate continuous stakeholder interaction. Our work contributes to current debate on conceptual underpinnings of continuous entrepreneurial discovery process. We also provide practical examples for other EU regions how to sustain continuous stakeholder interaction in the context of smart specialisation.