Cities and regions in Europe as Test beds: making the most of the opportunities

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1 REPORT Introduction Cities and regions in Europe as Test beds: making the most of the opportunities On 25 April 2018, RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden; the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen); the City of Gothenburg European Office; and Business Region Göteborg held a lunch debate in Brussels entitled: Cities and regions in Europe as test beds: making the most of the opportunities. Building on a series of events 1 focused on the need for a coherent strategy for test beds in Europe, the debate centred around the role of cities and regions as test environments and how test beds can both contribute to urban and regional development and increase regional attractiveness. Opening comments The moderator Jon Haag from RISE welcomed participants to the workshop. He said that currently, 54% of all consumers live in large cities and that by 2050; this figure is expected to rise to 70%. Taking advantage of test beds in cities and regions could help address global environmental challenges, he maintained. In her opening remarks, RISE CEO Pia Sandvik said that the idea of focusing on cities and regions came about at a meeting in Gothenburg with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission last December. Pia said that many people see test beds as huge, high-tech facilities, in which new products are invented. However, there is also a need for test beds to take place in real life, she said, citing policy labs as an example. She argued that test beds are high on the political agenda as there is a need to test processes so that products can go to market quickly. As it is expensive to do this alone, there is a need for companies and societies to come together in a more cost efficient manner. Pia stressed that test beds can be creative and dynamic places, where people meet to share ideas and create innovations. She also said that regions and cities are needed to test the building of new districts or even entire new municipalities. 1 Test beds at European level have been discussed at two other lunch debates and at two workshops, in Gothenburg in Nov and during the European Industry Days in February

2 She mentioned the many ongoing initiatives to increase synergies and access to test beds across borders. These include Digital Innovation Hubs, the European Network for Pilot Production Facilities, the KET Hubs and regions own initiatives. Pia then spoke about the need to take advantage of regional and EU funds, adding that is vital for all players to mobilise and coordinate on this issue. She stressed that in order to be competitive, academia, business and regions must come together on test beds. Finally, Pia called for an analysis of the circumstances in different regions and environments in order to create a common Test Bed Europe strategy. David Ljung, Chairman of the Board, Business Region Göteborg, then took to the floor to present Testbädd Göteborg. He opened by saying that test beds are on the rise and that they will become even more important for competitiveness and growth in the years to come. David said that in Gothenburg, test beds are an important feature of corporate and societal life. The city is increasingly a test arena for new innovations. There are currently some 60 test beds on sustainable housing, smart energy, electric busses etc. He said their set-up varies a lot but that they always test products and services in virtual reality, in labs, in simulated environments and in the real world. He highlighted the ElectriCity venture, which brings together industry, research and society in the development and testing of solutions for next-generation sustainable public transport, saying that it is turning something pretty good into something a lot better. David then mentioned the importance of turning separate solutions into a coherent structure. With such a structure place in, there are clear rules, routines and practices to do things together. There are three main advantages to this: 1. Easier for international actors come to Gothenburg for specific testing, making the city more attractive. 2. Possible for SMEs to carry out real world testing on promising innovations with limited resources. 3. With such a collaborative structure, one can move from small to big, as there is a network of actors already in place. He stressed that from his experience, collaboration between society, academia, government, and municipalities is crucial for innovation, adding that this will become even more important in the future. The Gothenburg test bed experience promotes an innovative business environment, and has a positive effect on jobs and growth, which has in turn increased tax revenue and enhanced social welfare. Test beds can also strengthen urban planning and development, improving life for city dwellers, he said. In addition, once a product or service is tested, it is relatively easy to move on to full-scale implementation.

3 Despite being at an early stage, David is very happy with progress under Testbädd Göteborg and would be interested in partnering on test beds with other cities. With the opening comments complete, the focus then turned to the panel discussion. Panel debate Maria Strömberg started by giving the local perspective on test beds, resulting from her experience as Head of Department: Cluster and Innovation, Business Region Göteborg. In her role, Maria is focused on setting up a structure for future large-scale innovation partnerships and for encouraging industry to participate in test beds. Maria said that there is currently no structure to allow the knowledge acquired from test beds to flow between universities, research institutes or industry and that this should change. Business Region Göteborg already works with big industry names such as Volvo on mobility test bed projects and for her; the next step would be to help SMEs participate in test beds. Test Bed Göteborg is a showroom and to open it up and reach the next level, companies need to know its added value, she said. Maria said that the city of Gothenburg is a producer of new innovations. It is a challenge owner but also a service provider for testing companies, while also being an authority that works within the framework of legislation and policies. To be able to have more test beds, a policy lab should be set up. She also stressed the importance of opening up test beds to international companies and other actors. Companies don t see borders; they want to see several cities involved in test beds, not just one. That is the next step, she maintained. Wim de Kinderen, Vanguard Initiative, International Project Manager, Brainport, Eindhoven then gave the regional view from the Vanguard Initiative, which is a network that promotes smart specialisation for boosting economic growth in European priority areas. Wim said this network is necessary for the EU to become a global leader in smart specialisation. It comprises 30 regions that have set up broad innovation pilot projects in areas such as 3D printing. The goal is to contribute to the emergence of new industrial value chains in high potential future markets. To this end, pilot project are set up with the aim of bringing new technologies quickly to the market. After mapping players in a value chain, companies are brought together to collaborate on a portfolio of projects. Test beds are used to validate potential products so that they can go to market, he said. Wim added that public authorities have a big role to play in sharing the costs, thereby derisking innovation, adding that regions and the EU also have a role to play. In addition, there is an urgent need to link existing demonstration facilities to help companies find the right

4 location. By helping companies access the right facilities, a de facto gap analysis would be taking place. The goal is not just to collaborate but also to avoid the duplication of test beds. However, there are some technical restraints with some regions unwilling to share or pay for expertise, he maintained. Pekka Savolainen, Confederation of Finnish Industries and Head of Research Environment, Tampere University of Technology spoke about a big Finnish initiative called Allied ICT Finland (alliedict.fi). It involves 5 cities, 1200 companies, 10 universities, 10 RTOs, 3000 ICT researchers, and 7 innovation hubs across the country. The aim is to develop the latest cutting edge ICT technology while at the same time provide easy access to the technology. It was agreed that this initiative is more of an innovation hub but it could in the future, also become a test bed. There was also a distinction made between clusters and test beds. Clusters bring groups together, while test beds are the actual environments where products and services are tested. The focus then turned to the European Commission to get their views on test beds. Katia Reppel, Deputy Head of Unit, Smart and sustainable growth, DG Regio stressed the importance of the product demonstration phase, adding that it can be just as costly and risky as research. Her DG has financial instruments on offer to de-risk the investment and help products come to market. Katia said that DG Regio supports so-called Urban Innovative Actions on society, transport, environment, culture and digitization. It offers money to cities to experiment, allowing them to fine tune their ideas. She stressed that a comprehensive approach should be taken, first defining what citizens want or need before setting out a research agenda. She warned that cities are the easy part of innovation and that connecting to rural areas is a big challenge. There are ongoing urban test bed investments and she mentioned the example of digital innovation hubs funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Katia added that it is crucial to engage with citizens to make them actors in the process. Ask citizens first, then fund, she said. Max Lemke, Head of Unit, Technologies and Systems for Digitising Industry, DG CNECT gave an industrial and digital perspective on test beds from the European Commission. His DG manages 200 Digital Innovation Hubs across the EU. Max spoke about test bed experimental technology, which is working on multi-disciplinary research and innovation. He also highlighted the need for specialist EU living labs on cybersecurity, AI, terrorism etc. to communicate with each other and work more closely

5 together. He also mentioned the importance of testing facilities for SMEs, who can test before they invest. Max went on to stress the importance of digital skills development, which if not embraced, could limit economic growth in future. He said that cities play a major role in funding Digital innovation Hubs along with industry and academia, citing Vienna and Barcelona as examples. Hélène Chraye, Head of Unit, Industrial Technologies Advanced Materials and Nanotechnologies, DG RTD spoke about her Unit s overarching focus on physical innovations (non-digital). She added that a definition of test beds is included in the work programme of Horizon 2020 and that 240 million has been earmarked for test beds over the next three years. Hélène is currently compiling a list of public, private, regional and European EU, regional, infrastructures across the EU for upscaling. She added that the JRC is mapping all test bed facilities, while DG GROW is developing an IT tool for interested parties to use. She mentioned that there will be funding for test beds under the ninth framework programme (FP9). Special contributions The audience then heard two special contributions; one from a PhD student and the other from a research institute both are involved in the test bed domain. Harm van den Heiligenberg, PhD student Utrecht University & Policy Advisor at the Province of Utrecht, the Netherlands said that his research into so-called habitats shows that their most important success factors are cooperation between stakeholders, policy instruments, dissemination of learning experiences and having a regional vision for the future. His research also shows that regions all have their specific, economic and political aspects, making them pioneers for specific innovations. He added that diversity is essential for the world s transition to sustainability. Christian Steueur heads up a research institute (RTO) called Eurac Research, in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy. Staff there have developed a research infrastructure known as terraxcube, that simulates extreme climatic conditions and can be used to train athletes. Christian s RTO is eager to expand but he said he fails to understand the difference between initiatives such as clusters, digital innovation hubs and habitats and this is hampering him in setting up a network of similar infrastructures. He also cited a lack of EU clarity on certain policy and regulatory issues as well as funding related to corporate entities as problematic for his business to grow.

6 Wrap-up In her closing remarks, Pia Sandvik said that on hearing the debate, she was even more convinced that a Test Bed Europe strategy is crucial. She said that industrial innovation is vital to maintain the EU s ranking in the field and called on the EU to support national innovation systems with funding. If we succeed, we will attract companies and citizens because we are innovative. Otherwise, we will go down in innovation ranks, she said. Pia concluded by saying that she is really looking forward to collaborating with the EU Institutions and other key actors on developing a Test Bed Europe strategy. Conclusions from the debate Cities and regions are crucial for well functioning test beds. Test beds are on the rise and they are vital for economic growth and competitiveness. Collaboration between society, academia, government, and municipalities on test beds is crucial for innovation, and this will become even more important in the future. Test beds should be opened up to international companies. Collaboration is required to avoid test bed duplication. It is important to establish what citizens want before setting out a research agenda. SMEs should have access to test beds before they invest. Digital skills development should be embraced to boost economic growth. There will be funding for test beds under the ninth framework programme (FP9). Every region is different and test beds can help enhance this uniqueness. Harmonisation of EU initiatives and legal frameworks is needed. There is a general consensus of the need for a common Test Bed Europe Strategy. Next steps RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden. the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen) and the City of Gothenburg will work with the EU Institutions and other key actors to realise a Test Bed Europe strategy.