Regional Actions To Innovate Operational Programmes
In the current European context, SMEs located far from urban areas meet the challenge not only to grow but also to survive. The improvement of their innovation capacity is essential to promote the regional economical development and to fight against rural exodus. By helping rural SMEs to consolidate themselves to overcome of the barriers to their growth and competitiveness is a challenge for the regional innovation policies. These barriers include geographic isolation (far from rural areas and low populated areas), lack of infrastructure, lack of scale, scarce joint working opportunities and critical lack of ICT expertise. Faster broadband and advanced ICT knowledge are needed to enhance the innovation delivery to reach and increase productivity and sustainability of rural SMEs. RATIO aims to identify the innovative potential of these companies and help them to grow and expand their activities through: a learning process to implement and manage innovation This must be done by creating effective exchange of experiences in supporting cluster cooperation and international alliances, netwotks and clusters. This exchange of experiences among regional actors will be followed by the transfer of the lesson learnt to the regional programmes. The RATIO project is embedded in the Interreg Europe priority axis 1: Strengthening research, technological development and innovation, with the specific objective :improving innovation delivery policies. Thus, this project will contribute to reinforce the innovation culture in the region boosting innovative ecosystems where actors (regional and local authorities and innovation partners) and stakeholders (associations, academia, regional governments…) can work together in the Action plan to reach the needed policy change for the consolidation of innovative companies in non metropolitan areas.