EGMONT INSTITUTE – Think-tank on Innovation – Broadening the scope: moving from the triple to the quadruple helix of innovation or bi-regional cooperation as a tool for innovation, upgrading international specialization and restoring productivity progress.
Christian Ghymers
President of the Interdisciplinary Institute for relations between
European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean – IRELAC/ICHEC
During the first Academic Summit in Santiago in 2013 the need for closing the gap between universities/ research centers and firms – especially SMEs – appeared clearly as one of the priority tasks for the bi-regional cooperation for promoting innovation and the development of technology based business opportunities between Europe and CELAC. Therefore, an obvious conclusion was to start by closing the gap between the Academic Summit and the parallel Business Summit organized in the same context and place, which was also drawing the attention upon the need for SMEs and firms to benefit from universities. This common concern for promoting the exchange of knowledge, technology transfer and co-creation processes to foster the competitiveness of SMEs and an equitable and sustainable socio-economic development in both regions has to be translated into at least the organization of a common seminar between participants to both summits. Although initial ambitions had to be significantly reduced as the matching events of the Business Summit were transferred to Milano by unilateral decision from the European Commission, Eurochambres and the Academic Summit organizers seized the opportunity of the existing helpdesk for SMEs on IPR for organizing a joint seminar on some aspects of innovation. The Helpdesk IPR is an instrument put in place by the European Commission for Mercosur partners which was precisely about to be extended to the whole Latin American area in July 2015.
This paper points to give the background and to identify the process at work able to justify a bi-regional approach for bringing together key European and CELAC research and innovation actors in order to contribute to solve competitiveness and trade participation of both regions.
Article PDF: EGMONT INSTITUTE Thinktank innovation_2015
English