TeRRItoria – Territorial Responsible Research and Innovation through the involvement of local R&I Actors

Programme: Horizon 2020 – SWAFS (Science with and for society)
Overall budget: 1.999.833 EUR
North-East RDA budget: 100.562 EUR
Project duration: 36 months
Lead partner: The European Science Foundation (ESF)

TeRRItoria runs under the SwafS-14-2018-2019 call (Science with and for Society) of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, and it is a Collaborative and Supporting Action. Implemented by a consotium of 13 partners from France, Greece, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Belgium (EURADA) and Romania, the project’s overall objective is to experiment with the adoption of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach in European regional and territorial R&I systems.

TeRRItoria starts from the premise that RRI’s approaches, policies, and practices developed so far at the level of research institutions can be adapted to regional and territorial governance systems to better respond to the real needs of the communities. Adopting RRI at the territorial level is a less explored area: attempts to develop such an approach have been few, and good practice models are currently not available. For this reason, TeRRItoria will be based on a selective and experimental approach in synergy with other similar initiatives already under way. The project will connect responsible research and innovation with the Smart Specialization Strategies (S3 or RIS3) of the regions, under the assumption that increasing social responsibility in R&I systems may also foster the competitiveness of European territories.

Operationally, the project will develop a set of Transformative Experiments in 5 European territories – 4 regions and 1 municipality – each one represented in the consortium by a territorial organisation (2 regional authorities, 2 regional development agencies and 1 municipality). To enhance the general relevance of these experiments, the territories have been selected to span a broad range of different European geo-political contexts:

//  Region of Central Macedonia (Greece)
//  Region of Emilia Romagna (Italy)
//  Region of Trøndelag (Norway)
//  Region of North-East (Romania)
//  Municipality of Gabrovo (Bulgaria)

In the North-East Region of Romania, the experiment will focus the local communities from the mountain area – specifically, two pilot micro-regions: Dorna County and Ceahlau-Damuc area – with the aim of promoting the agri-food sector and especially the mountain product, as a way to face social and economic disadvantages. Organic food production may have a pivotal role in facing these challenges, and thus agri-food sector and its sub-sectors of safe-food production are among the priority intervention areas of RIS3 North-East.

During the project implementation, a consultative instrument to identify and prioritise needs of innovation in these communities will be developed (EDP – Entrepreneurial Discovery Process approach), as well as a a platform for innovation brokerage between local population, innovators, and facilitators.

Duration: 01/02/2019 – 01/02/2022

Partners:

// Knowledge and Innovation, Italy
// Aarhus University, Denmark
// Region of Central Macedonia, Greece
// NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET, Norway
// APPLIED RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATIONS FUND, Bulgaria
// ASTER – SOCIETA CONSORTILE PER AZIONI, Italy
// ASSOCIATION EUROPEENNE DES AGENCES DE DEVELOPPEMENT, Belgium
// FONDATION EUROPEENNE DE LA SCIENCE, France
// Danish Board of Technology, Denmark
// Municipality of Gabrovo, Bulgaria
// Trøndelag City Council, Norway
// North-East Regional Development Agency, Romania
// South – East European Research Centre, Greece

Project website: territoriaproject.eu.

Contact person:
Agatha FILIMON
Expert, RIS3 Management Office
Communication, Innovation and External Cooperation Directorate
E-mail: agatha.filimon@adrnordest.ro

Newsletter
> december 2019

Video
This video presents the activities carried out within the TeRRItoria project in the North-East region.