Inno- Food SEE- Methodology for Mapping, Analysis and Benchmarking of Policies, Plans And

Inno- Food SEE- Methodology for mapping, analysis and benchmarking of policies, plans and initiatives relevant to food innovation in the South- East Europe area / 1

Methodology for mapping, analysis and benchmarking of policies, plans and initiatives relevant to food innovation in the South- East Europe Area

1.  Introduction

Analyses and benchmarking of innovation policies across the world[1] show that:

·  There is a strong link between innovation performance and innovation framework conditions;

·  A high innovation performance is directly related to an active innovation policy, i.e. policy has a key role to play in ensuring that new innovations are developed and technology properly diffused throughout the economy;

·  Policy measures need to be applied in a manner that suits the national context in which countries operate if any attempt to learn from top-performing countries is to be made.

In this sense, under activity 3.1 of WP3- “Analysis of policies and strategies for food innovation” the partners will map, analyse and benchmark the existing policies, plans and initiatives relevant to food innovation at a regional and/or national level. Benchmarking will be done against selected successful and peer reviewed policies especially from countries such as The Netherlands, UK, France and Denmark. The analysis will be used as a basis for further project activities, namely activity 3.3- SWOT analysis for food innovation, activity 3.4- Recommendations for Food innovation policy formulation and activity 4.2- Operation Plans for food RTD and innovation.

2.  Critical issues for the policy mapping and analysis

2.1 Geographical Scope of the analysis

The geographical scope of the mapping and analysis is regional, i.e. the region of Central Macedonia in Greece, the region of Puglia in Italy, etc. However it may be proven more realistic to address these issues on a national level because of the small size of one country or the fact that innovation policies are quite often drawn at a national level.

Therefore, it is suggested that the partners start their mapping and analysis on a regional level moving up to a national level when necessary.

2.2 Time horizon of the analysis

Innovation framework conditions and policies usually take years to be fully implemented and to materialise into economic performance results. Therefore it is suggested that the time horizon for the analysis is long- term, i.e. the partners should examine information and data from 5 to 10 years back. In the same fashion, the time horizon of future and planned innovation policies should again be long- term, i.e. 5 to 10 years.

2.3 Role of each partner

Each partner will contribute to the development of the deliverables- outputs that refer in its country. In countries which are represented with 2 partners the roles will be distributed depending on the institutional role of each partner, i.e. in Bulgaria this will be the task of DoP, in Greece of SVVE, in Romania of CCINA. SVVE will be leading the WP and will be responsible for setting up the appropriate methodology and tools and for the monitoring, integration and homogenization of the deliverables.

2.4 Information and Data sources

The sources for information and data for the mapping and analysis can be various. Partners are requested to make their own survey of available sources. Below some indicative ones are presented:

·  Policies, plans, information and data originating from national and regional public authorities (e.g. Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Research and Education, regional public authorities and agencies, etc.)

·  Studies developed by industry associations, chambers of commerce and industry, etc.

·  Information and data from the European Inventory of Research and Innovation Policy Measures, http://www.proinno-europe.eu/inno-policy-trendchart/page/inventory-research-and-innovation-policy-measures

·  Information and data from the Innovation Union Scoreboard, http://www.proinno-europe.eu/inno-metrics/page/innovation-union-scoreboard-2010

·  Data from Eurostat, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/themes

·  Studies and results developed by previous relevant projects and initiatives,

·  Other relevant sources.

3.  Contents of the report

3.1 Overview of the regional/ national food industry

(Indicative Length- 2 pages)

In this section the partners will present preliminary basic information about the characteristics, structure and synthesis of the regional/ national food industry. The partners may use free text. Key information to be presented such as:

·  Type of products

·  Channels of distribution

·  Exports (types and figures)

·  Main issues and challenges

This part will be complemented by key statistical figures that will be provided by the WP leader SVVE and will be extracted from mainly from Eurostat, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home.

3.2 Overview of the regional research and innovation system- key players and their roles

(Indicative Length- 2 pages)

Reference should be made to the following key regional entities in support of food RTD and innovation:

·  Academic and research entities;

·  Business support entities;

·  Innovation and technology transfer entities;

·  Funding institutions.

The following indicative tables may be used (partners may adapt according to specific needs and create additional tables):

Type of entity (choose one of the types above) / Legal name of entity / Short description (max 400 characters) / Main role in the regional research and innovation system / Website

3.3. Policy framework, programme and measures in support of food innovation

(Indicative Length- 4 to 5 pages)

The partners should make reference to key policies, programmes, specific measures, initiatives in support of food RTD and innovation. For example:

·  National Strategic Reference Framework

·  Regional Operational Programmes

·  Operational Programme for Competitiveness, etc.

·  Funding particularly aimed to food RTD and innovation

The following indicative tables may be used (partners may adapt according to specific needs and create additional tables):

Strategy/ Policy Document / Date / Description/ Objectives relevant to food RTD and innovation in general / Web link (if available)
Innovation policy measures and financial support measures / Description / Start/ End date / Budget spent, Source of funding / Web link (if available)

3.4 Focus on specific measures

(Indicative Length- 4 to 5 pages)

In this section the partners should focus on at least 3 measures specific for the food industry, RTD and innovation. The table below may be used:

Name of the measure /
Key actors
Funding
Rationale
Particular sector and subsector
Target group(s)
Focal points and specific objectives
Key activities
Main outcomes/ Indicators for goals achieved/
Ex-post evaluation
Follow-up actions/ sustainability

3.5 Future planned policies and strategies

(Indicative Length- 2 pages)

In this section the partners will provide information about the most relevant future and planned policies and strategies relevant to food RTD and innovation.

The following indicative table may be used (partners may adapt according to specific needs and create additional tables):

Strategy/ Policy/ Measures / Date / Description/ Objectives / Budget spent, Source of funding / Web link (if available)

3.6 Preliminary assessment of policies and plans

(Indicative Length- 10 pages plus annexes)

The preliminary assessment of the innovation policies and plans should answer to the following key question: “In which extent the specific policies and innovation framework conditions contribute to the achievement of the innovation and economic performance goals”?

Below a structured approach to evaluate the innovation framework conditions is presented. These aspects represent the necessary pillars that support innovation.

Taken from “Benchmarking Innovation Policy and Innovation Framework Conditions”, Norwegian Ministry for Trade and Industry and Inside Consulting, January 2004, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/34/33705586.pdf.

The policy aspects or parameters in the right column will be “translated” into measureable indicators. The preliminary assessment of the policies and plans will be undertaken by the WP leader SVVE and will be based on the analysis of several key statistical indicators that will be extracted mainly from Eurostat, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home. This will be complemented by information and data requested from the partners. The assessment results will be then reviewed by the regional partners with the contribution of regional and national experts.

Some key statistics that will be used are:

·  Total R&D expenditure (GERD), business sector, government sector, high education and research sector, private non- profit sector, etc.

·  Total R&D personnel and researchers,

·  Data on employment in technology and knowledge-intensive sectors,

·  Biotechnology and other patent applications,

·  Number of scientific papers,

·  Number of incubators,

·  Number of spin- off and spin- out companies,

·  Venture capital activity, etc.

3.7 Benchmarking against selected successful policies

(Indicative Length- 5 pages)

SVVE will perform a benchmarking exercise of the SEE policies, strategies and measures against selected successful and peer reviewed policies from Europe. The following successful food cluster cases have already been identified and the SEE scenarios will be assessed against them:

·  Food Valley, East Netherlands, http://www.foodvalley.nl/English/default.aspx

·  Food Processing Initiative, Germany, www.foodprocessing.de

·  Øresund Food Network, Denmark / Sweden, http://www.oresund.org/food

[1] “Benchmarking Innovation Policy and Innovation Framework Conditions”, OECD, Norwegian Ministry for Trade and Industry and Inside Consulting, January 2004, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/34/33705586.pdf.