On Thursday 30th March the S3 CoP Secretariat, led by Technopolis Group, organised the launch event for the Smart Specialisation Strategies Community of Practice.
With more than a thousand registered participants, the S3 Conference brought together high-level speakers, including Commissioner Elsa Ferreira, with national and regional practitioners and stakeholders.
The event, broadcasted live from a Brussels studio, provided the occasion to launch and present all the components of the new Community of Practice. The S3 CoP will connect and inform all regional and national practitioners and policymakers working on S3, it will act as a knowledge-sharing centre and as reference point for any S3-related support.
During the event, participants debated around S3 history and future developments. The conference stressed the need to build on existing practices and the strength of each region, the essential interregional nature of S3, the need to foster skills and competences as well as the multidimensional aspect of innovation.
The S3 CoP Secretariat presented his services across all S3 dimension, stressing its commitment to the community of practice. The S3 CoP core team is composed by Agis Evrigenis, Elisabetta Marinelli, Maialen Perez and Margrethe Steinert, Cecilia Rolla, and Madalena Branco. Yari Borbon is working on the Industrial Transition Working Group with Carmen Moreno, Nikos Maroulis is in charge of the Targeted Support activities, and Matthieu Lacave is responsible for the Expert Group, working with Jeanne Prades, Teresa Moreno and Lena Tsipouri, from OPIX.
The Expression of Interest for the Expert Database and for the Working Groups were launched during the conference, all interested experts are invited to apply to give their contribution for successful S3s in all EU regions, here: Expert Database EoI and Working groups EoI.