Mechanism for fostering innovation in South East Europe
SEE countries elaborate and implement the innovation policies with various level of effectiveness. There is a lack of cooperation, capacity and common understanding of innovation performance, policies and supporting instruments in the region. The aim of the FINNO project is to contribute to better productivity and achieve more comparable level of innovativeness between countries in SEE region. The project will create a communication platform of decision-makers supported by sustainable mechanism for fostering innovation in SEE area, the FINNO Committee, a legal body providing governance level with constant and relevant policy recommendations. The mechanism for fostering innovation in SEE region will be developed in the project by key innovation supporting actors. On the basis of the analysis of innovation performance and existing measures in SEE countries and region, a common methodology for measuring Technology Innovation Assessment Scoreboard (TIAS) will be developed. TIAS Scoreboard rate will be measured in companies as direct users of innovation supporting measures by the pilot application of the on-line Self-Assessment Tool (SAT). On the basis of identified TIAS rate and identification of existing economy and policy gaps, policy recommendations for the FINNO Committee will be prepared, while enhancing capacity of stakeholders. Main project results include coherent methodology for implementation and usage of TIAS and SAT, innovation policy recommendations for each participating country and establishment of the FINNO Committee to ensure durability after project end. Results achieved will provide an overview of innovation efforts of the involved SEE countries in a unified and comparable way, also enabling benchmarks with other European regions. Results will be disseminated throughout the entire project, providing relevant stakeholders with useful guidelines on how to improve innovation policy and measure innovation performance in their country and beyond.