KPAs innovative Synergic Networks (O.T2.1)
Our Mission was to transform the database of identified and profiled innovation actors into living Synergic Networks and along the line define the needs and expectations for successful trans-regional cooperation between Central European actors.
A Synergic Network has been defined as a clustered pool of regional Innovation Actors that have a common area of expertise and interests with a structure that aligns with at least one of the Key Project Areas (KPAs). On the basis of this definition, three transnational innovative Synergic Networks (SNs) each related to one of the Key Project Areas (KPAs) Additive Manufacturing and 3D-Printing, Micro- and Nanotechnologies and Industry 4.0 have been created to enable international cooperation. The data foundation was the identified and profiled innovation actors (projects and respective organizations and/or individual actors) in the SYNERGY Profiling Tool. All innovation actors from the tool with sufficient available data (especially in terms of competences/skills and infrastructures) were considered including a diversity of entity types (samples should be from SME, industry and from higher education & research) and a diversity of regions and countries in Central Europe. Finally, the organizations were spread over a range of countries, industry sectors, entity types and service types – even though a certain degree of uneven distribution was noticeable. The established Synergic Networks have been evaluated. The approach selected for the evaluation of the Synergic Networks as a SWOT analysis to describe strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of each Synergic Network and to determine future strategies. The evaluation and analysis of the Synergic Networks resulted in lessons learnt from the phase of setting up Synergic Networks. The three Synergic Networks carry a high potential for handling projects of different types and sizes – with Synergic Network members who have relevant experience in cooperation.
As part of the synergic networks development process, members were also to be given the opportunity to meet and exchange experiences and knowledge on their areas of interest. In the same way, the needs for successful transnational cooperation based on crowd and open innovation were to be defined. For this purpose, the Synergic Network members and all interested project stakeholders were invited to 6 regional (example workshop project partner MERGE) and 1 international workshop on Simulated Sharing and Design Thinking. The workshops and meetings were conducted in an interactive and interactive way, which allowed to build active linkages between the Synergic Network members and define the needs and expectations for successful transregional cooperation while reflecting the requirements of all regional innovation actors to define the initial functionality of the later developed SYNERGY Crowd Innovation Platform.
- The main impacts and benefits of the Synergic Networks are:
- Successful regional and particular international cooperation between innovation actors from different SYNERGY target groups
- Connection of innovation actors that have a focus on similar technologies and common areas of interest.
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SYNERGY Synergic Networks Creation; Image Source: SYNERGY Project
