Smart specialization marked an important threshold in Lombardy Region’s approach to industrial policy, including aerospace. The Region has been testing new ways of supporting specific sectorial areas, such as the use of space technologies to transform traditional and mature industries into emerging ones. This change of pace has been recognized at European level: after being included in the Committee of the Region’s Guide on Regional Innovation Ecosystems, Lombardy Region has been selected as finalist of the 2016 RegioStars Award, the yearly competition honoring Europe’s most inspiring and innovating regional projects supported by EU Cohesion Policy Funds.
Lombardy Region’s Open Innovation Platform is one of the 23 finalists of the RegioStars Award. Selected among 104 projects, this collaborative tool brings together a large representation of regional innovation stakeholders: public and private economic players, universities and research institutes use this digital and physical space for dialogue to promptly respond to strategic challenges in 8 fields, inclduing aerospace.
Two other NEREUS Regions have also been selected as finalists: Basilicata (with a project on food, furtniture and fashion regional clusters) and Wallonia (with its Urban Redistirbution Centre)
Winners will be announced on Tuesday 11 October in Brussels, during the RegioStars Award
Ceremony which will take place during the European Week of Regions and Cities
We wish the best of luck to the three selected NEREUS Regions!