Topic 3: Widening participation in Public-Public Partnerships

Background

As Joint Programming Initiatives and other Public-Public Partnerships have become important parts of Europe's research and innovation agenda, the further success of these initiatives will depend on the participation and commitment from member states and associated countries. There are substantial differences between countries both in number of initiatives they participate in, and in how much resources they commit to the joint efforts within the partnerships. Lower level of participation and commitment from some EU 13 member states indicates that the possibility of using Structural Funds in order to finance the national participation in P2Ps is important.

The workshop will focus on how to increase participation in P2P from countries which have been less active so far. Possibilities of using Structural Funds for financing activities within JPIs and other P2Ps will be discussed. The discussion will be based on the preliminary findings from the JPI-evaluation on reasons for lower participation from some countries, lessons learned from the Smart Specialization Strategies process, and experiences from relevant member states.

Objectives

To identify the current status on differences in participation in Public-Public Partnerships
To discuss the reasons behind the differences
To explore possibilities of increased use of the Structural Funds for countries with a low participation
To discuss ways of widening the participation in JPIs and other P2Ps

Agenda

16h00-17h00: Key note presentations

Status on participation and commitment to JPIs and other P2Ps from EU 13 member states, seen from the expert group evaluating the JPIs (Leonidas Antoniou)
Experiences from the Smart Specialization Strategies on the use of Structural Funds in financing P2Ps, seen from the S3 platform (Karel Haegeman)
Reflections on participation in JPIs and other P2Ps from a EU 13 member state

17h00-17h45: Panel discussion (speakers and audience)(moderated by RCN)

Why is the participation and commitment to P2P low in many countries?
What can be done to widen the participation?
What are the possibilities to use Structural Funds to finance participation in P2Ps – and how can this be made easier?

17h45-18h00: Wrap up by RCN