COMUNICATO STAMPA
The new Public Notice for Research and Development projects: press release from the webinar
12 February 2021
Umbria and the challenge of innovation ecosystems:
Umbria Region and Sviluppumbria present the new R&D call for proposals
The relaunch of the Umbrian economy must pass through the spread of a new culture of innovation: this is the challenging goal that Regional Councillor for Economic Development Michele Fioroni and Sviluppumbria's President Michela Sciurpa set for the more than 130 companies and institutions involved in the presentation of the new Research and Development Public Notice.
The event, held by webinar, was planned by the Umbria Region and Sviluppumbria not only to illustrate the main features and innovations introduced by the notice but also with the intention of providing an opportunity to meet and discuss the importance of innovation, technology transfer and applied research as fundamental drivers of regional economic development.
The event was opened by Michela Sciurpa, who outlined the importance that supporting innovation holds for Sviluppumbria, together with support for internationalisation and attracting investment. "Today more than ever, innovation and technology transfer are becoming fundamental elements of our agency's renewed mission. Sviluppumbria continues to be at the side of businesses to help them enhance their innovative projects and to support the Region in the evaluation phase of the projects that will be submitted in response to this call for proposals," said Sviluppumbria's president. "In addition to this, we are initiating an increasingly intense collaboration with the Department of Economic Development and the other institutions, both public and private, involved in the world of innovation to promote effective initiatives that will allow our territory to effectively restart with the ability to innovate and renew itself. Today's meeting is part of our new operations, characterised by a strong synergistic and collaborative approach and a strong desire for constant dialogue and communication with all stakeholders".
In his presentation, Councillor Michele Fioroni stressed the importance of creating a culture of innovation in Umbria. “The Region has launched a challenge to businesses," the councillor emphasised, "by signing a pact with the territory in which, in exchange for substantial R&D funding, projects must have a concrete short-term impact on the economic fabric.” Speaking of the Region's commitment to implementing initiatives aimed at consolidating the ecosystem of innovation, the councillor went on to point out that "The drivers that are emerging, also as a result of the pandemic, show an increasing synergy between start-ups and large companies. A clear example of this is the success achieved in the development of the anti-Covid vaccine, whose timeframes have been considerably reduced thanks to the collaboration between start-ups, such as Biontech, and multinationals, such as Pfizer. The call for proposals for research and development goes in this direction and aims to stimulate collaboration between companies and start-ups by introducing specific rewards, but it is only the first of several initiatives aimed at strengthening relations among the players in the innovation ecosystem. In fact, our region, with its limited size, lends itself to experimentation in the field of technology transfer, and it is one of the Department's priorities to collaborate with the various institutional and private players to disseminate efficient technology scouting mechanisms".
Marianna Antenucci, Innovation Advisor in the Department of Economic Development, moderated the event and introduced the following two panels.
In the first, Professor Andrea Alunni, Innovation Programme Director, illustrated in detail the structure of the new European programme for research and innovation Horizon Europe, highlighting the opportunities that this can present for Umbrian companies together with regional funding, which with the recently published call for proposals aims to induce rapid acceleration in Umbria, rewarding products and/or processes characterised by a high level of technological maturity and rapid implementation and proximity to the market. It was pointed out that the new European calls for proposals coming out soon will be complementary to the instrument of the Umbria Region and will focus on a number of priority research areas for companies in our region, including health and digital enabling technologies, energy clusters, food safety and biotechnology. Horizon Europe represents an important additional opportunity to stimulate a virtuous triangle of research, enterprises and technology transfer in our region.
The role of the University and applied research in the future regional innovation ecosystem was illustrated by Prof. Gabriele Cruciani, Third Mission Sector Delegate, University of Perugia. He spoke about the strong investment that the University of Perugia is making in technology transfer and how the University is now able to provide companies with the skills necessary to exploit and produce patents. What emerged was an invitation to join forces, to innovate together, to prioritise collaboration over competition in order to activate an important regional research and technology transfer hub.
The operational details of the call for proposals and the key points for evaluating the projects were illustrated by Simone Secondi, head of the productive infrastructure and business networks section of the Umbria Region, and Elisabetta Boncio, head of the Technology Transfer Operational Unit of Sviluppumbria.
Applications for funding can be filled in by accessing the portal https://serviziinrete.regione.umbria.it using the SPID digital identity, starting from 10:00 on 20/01/2021 and through 12:00 on 20/03/2021.The completed applications must be submitted through http://trasmissione.bandi.regione.umbria.it starting from 10:00 on 27/01/2021 and no later than 12;00 on 20/03/2021.
Download the public notice and forms (in Italian) from the Umbria Region site.
