Description
Description (EN): ITHACA involves 9 EU regions with a shared ambition to accelerate the scaling up of smart health and care innovation that can support active and healthy living and secure the triple win of economic growth, more sustainable health and care systems and improved well-being of Europe’s citizens. Focusing on this sphere, its primary goal is to improve Structural Funds’ policies and implementation across the smart health and care innovation cycle (invention, co-creation, market testing, validation, scaling up) and enhance regional and interregional ecosystems.
ITHACA recognises that effective, innovation cycle outcomes require enhanced cooperation between quadruple helix stakeholders. ITHACA will thus incorporate interregional collaboration, involving a wide range of expert stakeholders, that comprises exchange of good practices, mutual learning, peer assessment, knowledge transfer, targeted coaching and collective, co-designed policy development. It will deliver its results through interlinked project activities and outputs during 3 sequential steps: (1) Identification and Analysis; (2) Interregional Mutual Learning; (3) Knowledge Transfer and Action Planning. Steps 1 and 3 also include assessments of policy enhancement and learning performance. Wide dissemination of good practices and lessons, especially to New Member States, is central to ITHACA’s purpose.
ITHACA’s primary outputs include:
- ITHACA self, peer and expert assessment tools and findings focused on regions’ strengths, weaknesses, policy priorities and policy enhancements relating to all stages of the innovation cycle and ecosystems;
- An ITHACA Framework Strategy for developing evidence based and co-designed policies, programmes and implementation methods and for identifying how best to improve policy instruments;
- 9 Regional Action Plans (each informed by the Framework Strategy, pre and interim self-assessments and EEPE case study) to enhance the implementation of regional policy instruments.
Read more Achievements (EN): In terms of activities, the project has organised a total of 87 policy learning events. It has also identified 33 good practices, produced 9 action plans and led to the increased capacity of 308 people. In terms of results, the project has succeeded in improving 13 regional development policies for a total amount of funds influenced of EUR 19,164,452.
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Website: https://www.interregeurope.eu/interreg-europe-2014-2020
Expected Results (EN): ITHACA’s overarching goal is to improve regional policies and implementation across the smart health and care innovation cycle (from invention through market testing/validation to scaling up) and enhance regional and interregional ecosystems. This will accelerate the scaling up smart of solutions for active and healthy living and ageing and thereby secure the triple win of increased investment, economic growth, more sustainable health and care systems and improved well-being of Europe’s citizens.
The ITHACA project has a series of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely) objectives and sub-objectives.
The primary SMART objective is to:
- Improve the quality of 9 EU regional development and smart specialisation policy instruments and enhance the effectiveness of their implementation.
Key sub-objectives are to:
- Produce robust self, peer and expert assessments of each ITHACA region’s policy, practice and ecosystem thereby improving learning cultures and knowledge for all stakeholders in the smart health/care ecosystem and value chain – bringing about real change to policy, practice and impact.
- Develop 9 regional action plans to enhance regional policy instruments and to refine and verify their goals (using ITHACA’s framework strategy for innovating and scaling up smart health and care solutions and toolkit to guide action plan creation).
- Disseminate ITHACA’s learning directly to at least 30 other EU regions (with a particular focus on CEE regions), to relevant European networks and to targeted EU and national policy makers in the digital, health and innovation spheres.
- Strengthen ITHACA regions’ regional and inter-regional quadruple helix (public authority, academic institution, private sector, civil society) clusters to build the European market in smart health and care solutions for active and healthy ageing.
Read more Expected Outputs (EN): Over the whole project period:
- 10 Steering Group meetings of which the first 8 are combined with an Expert Task Force work development meeting.
- Kick off Meeting in semester 2 (M7) and High level dissemin.ation event in semester 9 (Phase 2).
- 9 Exchange of Experience and Peer Evaluations (EEPEs)
- Interim dissemination and co-design seminar on Ecosystems, Scaling up and Validation in semester 3 (M 15) in Krakow with 9 regional multi-stakeholder meetings in each region in advance.
- Workshop with policy makers to start and work on step 3 (action planning and framework strategy development) in semester 5 (M28) with 2 x 9 regional multi-stakeholder meetings afterwards.
- Interregional workshop on peer reviewing of the action plans (only for project partners) in semester 6 (M31) hosted by Slovenia.
- Workshop with policy makers at the end of step 3 in semester 6 (M35) to share the action plans.
- Development of 9 action plans.
- Minimum of 1 stakeholder group meeting in each partner region per semester.
Expected outputs in Step 1 – Identification and Analysis:
1 ITHACA self-assessment tool drawn from tested tools such as CAF, EVALSED, B3 Maturity Model (from EIP on AHA), Reference Site assessment and the RIS3 Assessment Wheel.
9 detailed self-assessments of partners’ regional strengths, weaknesses and policy priorities; and mutual learning performance.
Expected outputs from Step 2 – Interregional Learning Proce.ss:
9 EEPE events focussing on validation and scaling up
1 interim dissemination and co-design seminar on ecosystems, scaling up and validation to explore and share good practice on constructing, maintaining and maximising the potential of ecosystems.
10 Case Studies describing and assessing policy and practice.
Expected outputs from Step 3 – Knowledge Transfer and Action Plans:
9 detailed self-assessments of partners’ regional strengths, weaknesses and policy priorities; policy enhancement and mutual learning performance.
An ITHACA Framework Strategy - a tool for partners to assess various approaches and identify how to best improve its policy instrument.
A Technical Toolkit to guide Action Plan development.
A workshop with policy makers at the end of step 3 in month 35 to share the action plans.
9 Regional Action Plans to enhance the implementation of regional policy instruments.
The results we hope to achieve through the ITHACA project are:
- All regional players in the value chain in the deployment of Active and Healthy Aging innovations will have collaborated in applied learning activities to identify how national, regional and local governments can improve regional policies.
- 9 Regions will have identified in their Regional Action Plans how their existing policy instruments can be improved to support the implementation and scaling up of smart health innovation
- Transnational markets will have grown through the development of interregional and regional ecosystems and tools that support transnational collaboration.
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Thematic information
Specific Objective:
Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular programmes for Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, ETC programmes, that support the delivery of innovation by actors in regional innovation chains in areas of “smart specialisation” and innovation opportunity
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Thematic Objective:
(01) strengthening research, technological development and innovation by:
Investment Priority:
(01b) promoting business investment in R&I, developing links and synergies between enterprises, research and development centres and the higher education sector, in particular promoting investment in product and service development, technology transfer, social innovation, eco-innovation, public service applications, demand stimulation, networking, clusters and open innovation through smart specialisation, and supporting technological and applied research, pilot lines, early product validation actions, advanced manufacturing capabilities and first production, in particular in key enabling technologies and diffusion of general purpose technologies
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Partners (9)
Lead Partner:
Provincie Noord-Brabant
Department:
Unit Culture and Society
Address:
Brabantlaan 1, 5216 TV s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.brabant.nl
Total budget:
EUR 451 733.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 383 973.05
-
Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia
-
Name:
Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia
Department:
Directorate for Employment, Education, Equal Opportunities, Youth Policies, Research and University
Address:
Via San Francesco 37, 34133 Trieste, Italy
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.regione.fvg.it
Total budget:
EUR 201 840.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 171 564.00
-
Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine (until 4/10/2021 Autonom’Lab)
-
Name:
Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine (until 4/10/2021 Autonom’Lab)
Address:
12 rue Gemini- ESTER TECHNOPOLE, 87068 Limoges, France
Legal status:
public
Website:
https://gerontopole-na.fr/
Total budget:
EUR 207 134.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 176 063.90
-
Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitarias-BIOEF
-
Name:
Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitarias-BIOEF
Address:
Ronda de Azkue 1, Torre del BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Centre), 48902 Barakaldo, Spain
Legal status:
public
Website:
https://www.bioef.org/es/
Total budget:
EUR 208 541.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 177 259.85
-
Województwo Małopolskie
-
Name:
Województwo Małopolskie
Department:
Department of Sustainable Development
Address:
Basztowa St. 22, 31-156 Krakow, Poland
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.malopolskie.pl
Total budget:
EUR 218 774.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 185 957.90
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Univerza v Ljubljani
-
Name:
Univerza v Ljubljani
Department:
Faculty of Social Sciences
Address:
Kongresni trg 12, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.uni-lj.si/
Total budget:
EUR 239 086.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 203 223.10
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Region Sjaelland
-
Name:
Region Sjaelland
Department:
Unit of Production, Research and Innovation
Address:
Alleen 15, 4180 Sorø, Denmark
Legal status:
public
Website (not verified):
http://www.regionsjælland.dk
Total budget:
EUR 277 964.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 236 269.40
-
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
-
Name:
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Address:
Geschwister Scholl Platz 1, 70174 Tübingen, Germany
Legal status:
public
Total budget:
EUR 287 527.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 244 397.95
-
NHS Cheshire & Merseyside (until 30/06/2022 NHS Liverpool CCG)
-
Name:
NHS Cheshire & Merseyside (until 30/06/2022 NHS Liverpool CCG)
Address:
Renshaw Street, L1 2SA Liverpool, United Kingdom
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
Total budget:
EUR 370 599.00
ERDF budget:
EUR 315 009.15
