DIGITAL AGENDA PROJECTS
Digital tech SMEs at the service of Smart Specialisation Strategies

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DEVISE  =  Digital tech SMEs at the service of Smart Specialisation Strategies
Coordinating actions to foster the growth of digital SMEs providing innovative solutions that allow other sectors to be more competitive.
Funding Programme Logo
Project Status: Completed
Project Leader: Jose Manuel San Emeterio
EU Programme: Interreg Europe
Project Budget:  €1,652,750
Start Date:  Jun, 2018
Finish Date:  Nov, 2022
Project Website:  http://www.interregeurope.eu/devise/
The aim of the project is to:

Increase the contribution of the digital-tech sector to competitiveness in other key sectors by improving supporting policy instruments.

Specific objectives are to:
  • Explore how public policy supports can be adapted to facilitate increased uptake of solutions by a region's key sectors from its digital sector.
  • Help to create digital transformation-enabling environments across the project's ten European regions
  • Facilitate increased collaboration between SMEs in the digital sector and those belonging to other key regional sectors.
Donegal, Ireland
ERNACT Network   (Lead Partner)
Project management and responsible for the overall delivery of the project

Jose Manuel San Emeterio
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Cantabria, Spain
Gobierno de Cantabria   (Partner)
Project Partner

Jorge Muyo López
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Derry & Strabane, United Kingdom
Derry City & Strabane District Council   (Partner)
Project Partner

Tara Nicholas
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Northern & Western, Ireland
Northern & Western Regional Assembly   (Partner)
Project Partner

Patrick Devine
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Pays de la Loire, France
Laval Mayenne Technopole   (Partner)
Project partner

Valérie Moreau
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San Sebastián, Spain
Fomento de San Sebastián   (Partner)
Project Partner

Gorka Díez Jiménez
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South Ostrobothnia, Finland
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences   (Partner)
Project partner

Saara Nuottajärvi
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Varna, Bulgaria
Business Agency Association   (Partner)
Project Partner

Silvia Stumpf
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West Flanders, Belgium
Voka - Kamer van Koophandel West-Vlaanderen   (Partner)
Project Partner

Soraya Van Cauwenberghe
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West Romania, Romania
WRDA   (Partner)
Project Partner

Karla Hategan
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DEVISE aims to give response to the current challenge that 10 European regions are facing to unlock and exploit the potential that digital tech SMEs have as enabler for the competitiveness of other SMEs belonging to sectors included in their Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3).

Although significant progress has been made in the definition of more focused policies supporting these strategic sectors, more coordinated actions are required to foster the growth of digital SMEs providing innovative solutions that allow other sectors to be more competitive. Taking this into consideration, DEVISE aims, by 2021, to increase by 15% the number of digital tech SMEs enabling competitiveness in other regional strategic sectors through improved supporting policy instruments.

In doing so, the project will follow an innovative intersectoral approach involving all the relevant stakeholders in the process of analysing the current context, learning from other EU regions and defining improved policies integrating the lessons learnt.

DEVISE will produce concrete outputs to meet this objective and other long-term effects. This includes the definition of 10 regional action plans that will help policy makers improve the effectiveness of the instruments they are responsible, through more focused actions supporting the issue addressed in DEVISE. We will also put a lot of effort to set up 10 regional digital transformation enabling environments that will cooperate together. DEVISE will facilitate the creation of these environments formed by digital and other key sectors. Policy makers, business support organisations, educational centres and SMEs from the digital and other smart specialisation sectors will be the main participants and beneficiaries of these environments expected to last beyond DEVISE’s lifetime. These environments will bring improved coordination and increased collaboration between the digital sector and those belonging to other smart specialisation sectors.

Core ERNACT regions
Newfoundland & Labrador
Canada
South Ostrobothnia
Finland
Nièvre
France
Upper Franconia
Germany
Donegal
Ireland
Gaeltacht
Ireland
West Romania
Romania
Ljubljana
Slovenia
Cantabria
Spain
Västernorrland
Sweden
Derry & Strabane
United Kingdom