Joint Undertakings to find synergies with regional funds

A report launched on 20 May 2019 by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) invites regions and Joint Undertakings (JUs) to cooperate in order to steer innovation across Europe. The report explores different possibilities for collaboration mechanisms with European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds as part of regional research & innovation initiatives within the Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) context.

“JUs can benefit from stronger links with S3 in order to maximise the impact of their agendas and projects, and build more critical mass”, explains the JRC report. Regions would also benefit from common collaboration as “JUs can help to optimise S3 priority setting by refining priorities and positioning them within the European research agendas of the JUs”.

Taking stock of JRC’s advice, the Shift2Rail JU will organise a workshop on regional cooperation in October 2019, during the European Week of Regions & Cities, to find synergies between Shift2Rail and European ESI Funds. The workshop will gather S3 coordinators from EU regions with transport-related S3 priorities, representatives from regional EU offices in Brussels, Shift2Rail State representatives and transport and innovation contact points from Member States and Horizon 2020 associated countries.

Participants at the workshop will look into concrete, complementary projects and long-term strategies where synergies between Shift2Rail and ESI funds could be leveraged to increase the impact of innovative actions.

More information on the workshop will be published soon on the Shift2Rail website.