Transnational Cluster Cooperation active on Agro – food, based on Smart Specialization Approach in Danube region

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The project addresses the major territorial challenge of the Danube area – the unbalanced distribution of innovation performances between Western part of the region with a high level of development and the Eastern part that is lagging behind, most of the countries belonging to the Modest Innovators group with more than 17% of enterprises producing only 3% of added value. This is due to different framework conditions and wide range of policies governing the R&I sector. Public policies in the area should be better coordinated while investment needs to be smarter and better focused. This is why cluster cooperation policies based on the smart specialization concept are at the core of delivering the EUSDR strategy, as they help take the geographical and thematic context into account in order to boost growth. The project aims to leverage the innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Danube area by developing smart and coordinated cluster policies in the context of RIS3, enhance innovation management knowledge and skills and foster transnational cluster cooperation in Agro-Food sector. The sector has been selected since it is a priority area of the RIS3 in the partner regions and it is among the priorities selected for the Danube area by the JRC. The project aims to generate a significant change by developing Danube S3 Cluster Strategy and Programme based on Quadruple Helix involvement as transnational strategic documents focused on exploiting the linkages between mutually reinforcing specialization areas across sectors. The strategy will be tested by 5 pilot initiatives in 4 cross-cutting themes (market intelligence, open innovation, business models for circular economy and healthy food) that are interconnected and able to generate new innovative project ideas and feeding into EUSDR. The pilots will be implemented in HR, RS &SK and especially in MD& UA where most of the knowledge generator activities will take place, for a better coordination of cluster policies. Information added on 2020-05-12, regarding the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19 (the corona virus pandemic that started in 2019) (English language only): Transnational cluster cooperation active on agro-food, based on smart specialization approach in the Danube region - relevant since many citizens are now back in the countryside/villages get to be repopulated.

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