Adrion regional policies for fostering of Digital Transformation of SME
Digitalization improves the efficiency of working processes and contributes to reduction of the impact on environment and transition to green economy. However, digitalization is still underutilized, with different regions of Europe (either EU or non-EU member states) having different supporт mechanisms to foster digitalization.
Project DigiTrans connects 10 partners 9 different countries, which are all supporting digitalization of their regional SMEs. The partners represent different spheres, from industry, business support, and administration, to the academic sphere. This gives them the great opportunity to tackle the challenge of underutilization of digital technology from the point of view of different actors.
The project will set up a quadruple helix model (connecting representatives of industry, academia, government and community in each of the project partnership regions, which will form a platform for cooperation between key actors for fostering digitalization and uptake of other forms of innovative technologies among SMEs, boosting their competitiveness. At the same time, thanks to the transregional cooperation among project partnership regions, a joint transregional platform will be formed reaching international results in fostering digitalization by exchange of knowledge, experience and also setting up joint action plans for increase in digitalization within the partnership by forming twin regions with partnership trios (where one partner will represent the holder of a good practice to be transferred into a different region; another partner within the trio present the project partner from the region that will pilot test the good practice into their respective region; and the third partner within the trio will be the key stakeholder – such as one of the 8 associated partners, or another key stakeholder fostering digitalization).
Within the project the partnership will prepare the regional State of the Art analysis, to get an overview of the level of digitalization in each participating region. Based on this a transregional analysis will be prepared, to show how the regions can work together to increase the number of SMEs cooperating with other innovation actors by 10% and in this way foster the digitalization and implementation of I4.0 technological solutions.
Based on such a model there will be cooperation between 9 countries of the Interreg IPA Adrion program: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, with 1 partner from each country (and two from Slovenia – LP1 and PP10), forming 9 partnership trios, that will set up 9 actions plans for transfer of good practice for fostering digitalization, which will be pilot tested within the project and based on the pilot testing joint solutions will be developed.
Additionally, a special focus will also be on closing the gap between the innovation uptake of the lagging rural areas in comparison to the more developed urban areas with a bigger capacity for uptake of innovative technologies such as digitalization.
Through the DigiTrans project the partnership will increase the digitalization uptake among regional SMEs, improve regional policies to “strengthening research, technological development and innovation,” and contribute to achieving the strengthening of innovation capacities in the Adriatic – Ionian region.