Version: Final Date: 11 April 2012

Regional Innovation Monitor

Regional Innovation Report (Groningen)

To the European Commission Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General Directorate D – Industrial Innovation and Mobility Industries

René Wintjes Nordine Es-Sadki Hugo Hollanders UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University

www.technopolis-group.com PREFACE

The Regional Innovation Monitor (RIM)1 is an initiative of the European Commission's Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, which has the objective to describe and analyse innovation policy trends across EU regions. RIM analysis is based on methodologies developed in the context of the INNO-Policy Trendchart, which covers innovation policies at national level as part of the PRO INNO Europe initiative. The overarching objective of this project is to enhance the competitiveness of European regions through increasing the effectiveness of their innovation policies and strategies. The specific objective of the RIM is to enhance the scope and quality of policy assessment by providing policy-makers, other innovation stakeholders with the analytical framework and tools for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of regional policies and regional innovation systems. RIM covers EU-20 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This means that RIM will not concentrate on Member States where the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics NUTS 1 and 2 levels are identical with the entire country (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), Malta which only has NUTS 3 regions, Slovenia which has a national innovation policy or Cyprus and Luxembourg which are countries without NUTS regions. The main aim of 50 regional reports is to provide a description and analysis of contemporary developments of regional innovation policy, taking into account the specific context of the region as well as general trends. All regional innovation reports are produced in a standardised way using a common methodological and conceptual framework, in order to allow for horizontal analysis, with a view to preparing the Annual EU Regional Innovation Monitor reports. European Commission official responsible for the project is Alberto Licciardello ([email protected]). The present report was prepared by René Wintjes, Nordine Es-Sadki and Hugo Hollanders (corresponding author: [email protected]). The contents and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Member States or the European Commission. Copyright of the document belongs to the European Commission. Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on its behalf, may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this document may be put, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear.

1 http://www.rim‐europa.eu

Table of Contents

1. Main Trends and Challenges in the Regional Innovation System 1 1.1 Recent trends in regional economic performance 1 1.2 Recent trends in regional innovation performance 2 1.3 Identified challenges 3 2. Innovation Policy Governance 5 2.1 Degree of institutional autonomy 6 2.2 Institutional-set up, co-ordination and implementation mechanisms 7 2.3 Key challenges and opportunities 10 3. Innovation Policy Instruments and Orientations 11 3.1 The regional innovation policy mix 11 3.2 Appraisal of regional innovation policies 18 3.3 Good practice case: the Healthy Ageing Network North Netherlands (HANNN) 19 3.4 Portfolio of innovation support measures 21 3.5 Towards smart specialisation policies 22 3.6 Possible future orientations and opportunities 25

Appendices

Appendix A Bibliography...... 27 Appendix B Stakeholders consulted...... 29 Appendix C RIM Repository information ...... 30 Appendix D Statistical data ...... 31

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Figures

Figure 1-1 University of Groningen serving the North of the Netherlands...... 2 Figure 1-2 Economic and innovation performance indicators ...... 3 Figure 3-1 Eemshaven, € 600m investments in sustainable energy ports...... 14 Figure 3-2 Multi-disciplinary fields and variety of projects which contribute to Healthy Ageing...... 20 Figure 3-3 Cross-links between clusters in North Netherlands...... 22 Figure 3-4 Concept of Smart Grid solution ...... 24

Tables

Table 1-1 Unemployment rate of Groningen, The Netherlands and EU27; 2005-2010..1 Table 3-1 Overview of the regional innovation policy mix...... 13 Table 3-2 Existing regional innovation support measures and programmes ...... 17 Table 3-3 Assessment by intermediaries on the extent OP North is reaching the objectives...... 18 Table 3-4 Status on output- and outcome-indicators of OP North priority 1 on October 2010 ...... 19

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Executive Summary 1. Introduction: Main recent trends in the Regional Innovation System Characteristic for the innovation performance of the Province of Groningen is the strength in terms of the R&D expenditures of the Higher Education Institutes, which as a share of GDP, are way above the European average. On the other hand, business R&D intensity is well below the EU average, and to a lesser extent also R&D at government research institutes are less well represented in Groningen than in the EU regional average. The traditional agricultural economy has been replaced to some extent by the natural gas extraction and this has also led to an increase of employment in Knowledge Intensive Sectors. Dominant businesses involved in R&D are GasTerra, Essent, Nuon and Electrabel. All of them are involved in Energy and have a variety of suppliers, outsourcing relationships and spin-offs. 2. Major innovation challenges and policy responses Based on our analysis of main trends in the regional innovation system of Groningen, three main challenges have been identified: Challenge 1: Deploying the urban concentration of talent and university research for innovative competitiveness and entrepreneurship Increasing the benefits for the economy of hosting a relatively large university is a major challenge for the province of Groningen. The concentration of talent and university R&D provides opportunities for start-ups and spin-off companies and the development of more targeted public/private funded centres of expertise, which serve as cores in cluster development. Challenge 2: Enhancing R&D, growth and export of innovative firms In contrast to the strength of the region in terms of university research Groningen has a low performance in terms of business R&D. It is tempting for regional policymakers to rather focus on the existing strength in public R&D, but strengthening the private part of the innovation system remains an important objective. Besides stimulating business R&D and cooperation in clusters it is also important to enhance the growth and export of innovative firms. Challenge 3: Involving the peripheral parts of the region in developing the prioritised innovation themes concerning Healthy Ageing, Energy and Bio-based Economy. Improving the balance between the core and periphery within the province is of large economic and social importance. Given the threatened vitality of the countryside and the demographic development of an ageing and declining population it is important not to concentrate all innovation policy efforts on the city of Groningen. The selected innovation areas in focus provide good opportunities to involve the whole province (and even the rest of the North) and to generate economic and social benefits also in the less densely populated parts of the region.

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3. Innovation policy governance The general degree of institutional autonomy of the elected provincial authorities in the Netherlands is low. It is to a large extent an arbitrary choice to focus within the Netherlands at the NUTS2 level of the Provinces, since there are regional innovation strategies at various levels and the importance of the NUTS1 level (and to a lesser extent also the local, city level) has increased over the years. Due to the cooperation and integration of policies in the three provinces in the North, the regional innovation policy in Groningen is not that different from that of the whole North. Concerning governance the main challenge by far for regional innovation policymakers is the revolutionary change that is caused by the termination of large national funding support for regional development in the North. Without national funding for programmes such as ‘Compass North’ and the ‘PiD Bearing North’ the region is faced with a reduction of about half its current budget for regional development. Besides this budget challenge, there is also a change in policy development and the governance of the policy making process. E.g., the Northern Netherlands Provinces (In Dutch: Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland, abbreviated to SNN) will have to transform from a lobbying and funding agency to a regional network organisation that will bring companies together and help them in applying for grants and taking initiatives. It implies a less top-down and more bottom- up approach. Also for the Northern regional investment and development agency (In Dutch abbreviated to NOM) the future is challenging, since it will have to do without the annual base funding from the national government. In 2011 the national government also announced it would sell its shares in several years from now, but most recently this approach has changed as the national Minister apparently would like to remain a minority share of ownership. The provinces will probably be prepared to take over the remaining ownership shares, but the issue has not been resolved yet. 4. Conclusions: future actions and opportunities for innovation policy With regard to governance the main challenges are to adjust to a new situation in the relation between the region (as part of the North) and the national government, because it has withdrawn as a source for basic funding for regional development. The regional actors can apply for funding within national programmes and innovation contracts, but this funding would not be the result of lobbying, but based on the quality of proposals compared to proposals of others. In this sense the national government will no longer provide funds for the sake of regional cohesion at national level, but based on excellence and innovation potential. Organising bottom-up processes and partnerships for generating ideas, initiatives and project proposals seems to become even more relevant. Concerning the regional innovation policy-mix the conclusion was drawn that a considerable part of the support was spent on public R&D. Although the results are promising, the next period of innovation policy should be more demand-oriented, supporting the private R&D, innovation and business development, focusing on economic application of knowledge and innovations.

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Based on the existing evidence, it can be concluded that possible future orientations and opportunities for regional innovation policy in the Province of Groningen are in: 1. Exploiting the developed strengths in focused and demand-oriented public R&D, by intensifying the support for business development and innovative companies After having strengthened the research side and the public-private co-operation with companies, it becomes important to focus more on direct support for innovation and growth in the private sector. 2. Develop bottom-up processes and partnerships involving SMEs for the identification, development and implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies It is important to organise a more bottom-up and ‘entrepreneurial process of discovery’ by organising consultation sessions and develop partnerships with the business sector, and especially SMEs. 3. Invest in demand-oriented policies such as demonstration projects, ‘living-labs’ and test-beds regarding Energy, Healthy Ageing and Bio- based Economy. These policies could be used to develop more concrete ‘lead-markets’ Smart Specialisation strategies on Energy, Healthy Ageing and Bio-based Economy are promising for the region. A common opportunity on the three mentioned fields for Smart Specialisation is to develop more demand-oriented policies such as demonstration projects, ‘living-labs’ and test-beds. By involving end-users in such demand-side innovation policies the more peripheral parts of the region can be linked to the more (supply-) research oriented developments at the urban core of the region.

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1. Main Trends and Challenges in the Regional Innovation System

This section presents key information on trends in regional economic and innovation performance of Groningen.

1.1 Recent trends in regional economic performance Groningen has 579,034 inhabitants (2011) and it covers an area of 2,960 km2. This makes Groningen one of the smaller NUTS-2 regions in the Netherlands. There are more than 37,500 businesses in the province. Most of the 269,189 people consisting of the work force are employed in the sectors: Health Care, Agriculture and Trade. With a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of €25b Groningen is responsible for about 5% of Dutch GDP. GDP per capita is almost 50% higher than the Dutch average, a direct result from the natural gas extraction (the Groningen gas field is the largest natural gas field in Europe and the tenth largest in the world). Annual growth rate of regional GDP was with 8.15% in the period 2000-2008 larger than the Dutch average (4.5%). The regions relative performance with the EU over the same period was on average 4.24%. The annual growth rates do fluctuate significantly in the period considered compared to the national growth rate. In 2007 Groningen’s economy was hit hard by the credit-crunch crisis but recovered remarkably afterwards. Table 1-1 Unemployment rate of Groningen, The Netherlands and EU27; 2005-2010

Unemployment rate (in %) 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 EU-27 7.60 7.10 6.10 5.90 7.60 8.30 NL 4.10 3.40 2.60 2.30 2.80 3.70 Groningen 6.00 4.40 3.90 3.20 3.90 4.30 Source: Eurostat. The unemployment rate in Groningen has slightly increased in recent years and was 4.3% in 2010. Both the unemployment rate in the Netherlands and in the EU has also increased in the same period. However the unemployment rate for both Groningen and the Netherlands are still well below the EU-27 average of 8.3% in 2010. Efforts trough several initiatives by the national government and regional policymakers to reduce the gap between national and regional unemployment rate seems to have worked well up until the credit-crunch crisis. The overall reduction of this gap between the national and regional unemployment rate is also important concerning regional development policy, because it was used by the national government as an argument that the region no longer was in need for additional national support for regional development. In 2011 the region was considered to be strong enough to develop its own strengths. The fluctuation of growth rates in Groningen can be explained by simple demand and supply statistics related to the gas field production in Groningen. Both GasTerra’s (sale of gas) and NAMs (production of gas) revenues show an increasing trend. However, they do see their revenues drop after 2008 due to the credit-crunch crisis. Gas production plays a huge role in the economic growth of Groningen. GDP per capita was €53,000 in Groningen but when one excludes gas benefits, GDP per capita drops to €30,000, which is below the national average of €36,000. Excluding gas benefits also has its effects on GDP per capita growth. GDP per capita has increased on average by 3.8% for the Netherlands in the period of 2001-2008. Groningen grew 3.4% in the same period after excluding gas benefits (7.2% including gas benefits) (CBS, regional economy 2009). The benefits to the state from gas production amount to approximately €10b per year (the state owns the gas production side).

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Furthermore Groningen’s investment quote has been low in recent years. The Netherlands as a whole invests on average 20% of its GDP; this number is around 15% for Groningen after excluding investments relating to gas production. These figures show that Groningen is to some extent economically dependent on the natural gas extraction.

1.2 Recent trends in regional innovation performance Benchmarking the innovation performance of Groningen with other regions in Europe shows first of all the high score regarding R&D expenditures at Higher Education Institutes (as a share of GDP), which is more than two times higher than in the EU on average (Figure 1-2). Groningen hosts the university with the largest students per population ratio in the Netherlands (due to the relative small population in Groningen). The number of students is about 28,000 (2011) and staff amounted to almost 5,000 FTE (including the university hospital). The University of Groningen is a broad research university with internationally outstanding research groups in disciplines such as Science & Technology, Life Sciences, Humanities and Law. The university has published 4,068 papers in 2009 and was awarded with 124 patents in 2010. Since the Provinces of Friesland and Drenthe lack a university, the University of Groningen (RUG) serves as the University of the whole northern Netherlands (Figure 1-1). Next to the involved governments, the university is also the most important stakeholder, and most influential actor in the innovation policy of the region. Figure 1-1 University of Groningen serving the North of the Netherlands

Total R&D expenditure in Groningen as a % of GDP was 1.51% in 2001 and 1.5% in 2007. For the Netherlands the R&D intensity was 1.8% in 2001 (EU 1.86%) and 1.81% in 2007 (EU 1.85%). Groningen’s share in total R&D expenditures in the Netherlands was 3.6% in 2007. Characteristic for the innovation performance of the Province of Groningen is the strength in terms of the R&D expenditures of the Higher Education Institutes (Figure 1.2). On the other hand, business R&D intensity is with 0.14 % of GDP well below the EU average of 1.21%, and even more worrying is the negative trend, since in 2001 business R&D expenditure was still at a share of 0,37% of GDP (See appendix D). To a lesser extent also R&D at government research institutes is less well represented in Groningen than in the EU regional average, but their R&D expenditure has increased after 2000. Thus, the R&D intensity of the region has not changed much since 2000, because there has been a decrease for business R&D expenditure (as share of GDP), and an increase in R&D expenditure at government research institutes.

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The traditional agricultural economy has been replaced to some extent by the natural gas extraction and this has also led to an increase of employment in Knowledge Intensive Sectors. According to Eurostat around 42% (in NUTS 1 region North Netherlands) of total employment in 2008 is working in Knowledge Intensive Services which is very close to share of the Netherlands (43%). This number was 40% for both North Netherlands and the Netherlands 2000. Employment in high-technology sectors is however smaller at 5% in 2000 (6% for the Netherlands) and 5.3% in 2008 (5.7% for the Netherlands). Dominant companies involved in R&D are GasTerra, Essent, Nuon and Electrabel. All of them are involved in Energy and have a variety of suppliers, outsourcing relationships and spin-offs. The share of innovating firms was below national average at 20.7% in 2008 (24.6% in the Netherlands). Groningen’s firms spent more than €116m on innovation or about 1% of total Dutch innovation expenditure (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2011). The number of patent applications in total for Groningen was 62 per million in 2008 and 77 per million in 2000; these figures are well below the average of the Netherlands. Figure 1-2 Economic and innovation performance indicators

Source: Eurostat and Community Innovation Survey.

1.3 Identified challenges Based on the above-mentioned trends in the performance of Groningen three challenges have been identified. Challenge 1: Deploying the urban concentration of talent and university research for innovative competitiveness and entrepreneurship Increasing the benefits for the economy of hosting a relatively large university in the city of Groningen is a major challenge for the province of Groningen. The concentration of talent and university R&D provides opportunities for start-ups and spin-off companies and the development of more targeted public/private funded centres of expertise, which serve as cores in cluster development. The Business Generator Groningen Foundation, which is engaged in knowledge transfer, and the recently started Centre for Valorisation and Entrepreneurship (in Dutch: CVO) can play an important role concerning this challenge.

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Besides nurturing the attractiveness of the city for talent, it is important to promote and support entrepreneurial initiatives of those talented people. In this respect the choice of the Innovative Actions Groningen (IAG) programme to focus on Creative Industries, which supports entrepreneurship among a broad range of talent fits with this challenge; and also the project ‘Wireless Groningen’ which includes the development of the city into a test-bed for innovative wireless applications. Another way to enlarge the contribution of the university to the innovation potential of the Province is to contribute to the development of specialised centres of expertise concerning the thematic priorities chosen, e.g. in the case of Energy Academy, Biogas Centrum Groningen and the European Research Institute on the Biology of Ageing. Such initiatives could also increase the relatively low share of R&D in public research institutes, as compared to for instance the regions in the West of the Netherlands. Moreover, in the future the institutes of the region will increasingly have to compete for funding from national (and EU) research and innovation programmes. Challenge 2: Enhancing R&D, growth and export of innovative firms In contrast to the strength of the region in terms of university research, Groningen has a low performance in terms of business R&D. It is tempting for regional policymakers to rather focus on the existing strength in public R&D, but strengthening the private part of the innovation system remains an important objective, in order to reach a more balanced system which is less dependent on public funding. Besides stimulating business R&D and cooperation in clusters it is also important to enhance the growth and export of innovative firms. The share of firms, which are innovative, but especially in terms of R&D, and for instance export the performance of the business sector, could be improved. The Northern Innovation Facility seems to be an important instrument in this respect, since it has proved to be able to support large numbers of firms (4,600 during the Compass programme period which ends in 2011). Within the OP North and Bearing North (PiD) appropriate measures are headed under ‘support for innovation and entrepreneurship’, but according to the revised OP-North (2010) these measures will become more selective, selecting those with clear innovation potential. Challenge 3: Involving the peripheral parts of the region in developing the prioritised innovation themes concerning Healthy Ageing, Energy and Bio-based Economy. Improving the balance between the core and periphery within the province is of large economic and social importance. Given the threatened vitality of the countryside and the demographic development of an ageing and declining population it is important not to concentrate all innovation policy efforts on the city of Groningen. The selected innovation areas in focus provide good opportunities to involve the whole province (and even the rest of the North) and to generate economic and social benefits also in the less densely populated parts of the region. Research on the topics of Healthy Ageing, Energy and Bio-based economy can be performed in the respective centres, but the countryside can contribute and benefit by applying and testing the innovations as a regional ‘living-lab’. In this way the province (and even the rest of the North) can be developed into a lead-market on these themes.

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2. Innovation Policy Governance

This section provides an analytical overview of the multi-level institutional framework for designing and implementing regional innovation policy in the Province of Groningen. First the issue of autonomy of this Dutch Province as regional authority is discussed regarding the design and implementation of regional innovation policies (paragraph 2.1). In paragraph 2.2 the dynamic and complex governance situation is analysed and explained: many governance levels ranging from EU, national, North Netherlands (NUTS1), the Province Groningen NUTS2) and the local level play a role. A third paragraph addresses the development and use of policy intelligence (2.3). This section concludes with key challenges and opportunities concerning policy governance. Figure 2-1 Map of the three Provinces (NUTS2) which make up North Netherlands (NUTS1)

Before turning to the provincial level of governance it is relevant to explain that it is to a large extent an arbitrary choice to focus within the Netherlands at the NUTS2 level, since there are regional innovation strategies at various levels and the importance of the NUTS1 level (and to a lesser extent also the local, city level) has increased over the years. One could claim therefore that the provincial level might not be the most important or appropriate with regard to regional innovation policy. The NUTS2 level region Groningen is one of the 12 Provinces in the Netherlands. This administrative region is bordered in the East by Germany. Together the Provinces of Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen make up the NUTS1 region North Netherlands (Figure 2.1). Regarding the administrative regions, there are ongoing political discussions in the Netherlands on what would be the most appropriate regional level. Some have even proposed to abolish the provincial governments; others have proposed to merge provinces. Concerning the Randstad in the West of the Netherlands the three provinces of North-Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland have taken the joint initiative in 2011 to work towards a full merger of these three provincial authorities. In the North of the country there is also a discussion to merge the provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Actually, these three Northern Provinces already cooperate, or even operate as one, on many policy fields, including regional economic development. For some this is an argument to say that there is no real need for a full merger.

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2.1 Degree of institutional autonomy The general degree of institutional autonomy of the elected provincial authorities in the Netherlands is low. The Province has limited competencies and budget capacity compared to the national government and the Municipalities. For most policy fields the national government is the single policy-making level and the Provincial level is only for a limited number of policy fields the administrative regional level for implementation. There is a trend of decentralisation, but it is mostly the level of Municipalities that has grown in importance. The limited responsibilities of the Province can perhaps best be indicated by looking at the size of the budget: in 2012 it will be €371m of which about 64% is provided by the national government, and earmarked for specific tasks. The main source of own income is the motor vehicle-tax of €49m in 2012 (13% of total budget). Main items on the budget relate to ‘Transport & Infrastructure’ (31%), and ‘Welfare, social policy, youngsters, and culture’ (20%). In 2012 the budget for the item ‘Entrepreneurial Groningen’ is €21m (6% of the budget). The Provincial authority includes an elected council (once every 4 years), and has very limited legislative powers and minor tax raising powers. The Province does not have competencies (nor budget) regarding education and science policy, but has (increased) influence and responsibilities regarding the design and implementation of regional innovation strategies, but in practice most of these tasks have voluntarily been transferred to The Northern Netherlands Provinces (in Dutch: SNN), at a higher NUTS level. The most important and largest programmes are at this NUTS1 level and are implemented by the organisation The Northern Netherlands Provinces. For instance the EU supported Regional Operational Programme (€249m budget) is at this NUTS1 level of regions. Also the national co-funded regional support programmes ‘Bearing North’ and ‘Compass for the North’ are designed and implemented at the NUTS1 level of North Netherlands. A difference with other Provinces in the Netherlands is that, while in general regional development support from the national government had stopped in the 1980’s, the North of the Netherlands had remained a special status and kept on receiving funds for regional development from the central government. Mainly through the ‘Compass for the North’ programme (€414m budget), which started in 2000 and formally ended in 2006, but some of the remaining budget can be spent till 2011. A major challenge for the future is that the North seems to have lost this special status: national support to regional development will also end for the North. Although for Groningen and the whole North region, the regional level has a relatively large budget for regional innovation policy compared to the other regions in the Netherlands, the national level (Ministries and AgencyNL) is perhaps still an even more important level of governance in terms of the design and implementation of subsidy measures for innovation activities. The Province does not have competencies (nor budget) regarding education or science, but has some influence and responsibilities regarding the design and implementation of regional innovation strategies. Within the multi-level RTDI governance in the Netherlands, the national level is the most important. Here the largest budgets are spent and most decisions on (semi-) public research institutes are made. In the future this will even become more dominant with the ending of additional national funding for regional policy in the North.

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2.2 Institutional-set up, co-ordination and implementation mechanisms Within national RTDI policy there is a regional component that since 2006 is focused on turning existing regional strengths into economic 'peaks' of worldwide recognition (Peaks in the Delta, PiD, €216m for 2006-2010). Regional governments add co- funding to the national budget. Groningen is part of the PiD region 'North', for which €20m was made available in 2009. The main innovation policy at the level of the Province of Groningen is the Innovation Actions Programme (Innovatief Actieprogramma Groningen 2010-2012: ‘IAGIII). The budget for IAGIII is about €6m. This is a relatively small programme, which is actually a small part of the Operational Programme. Because the possibilities for subsidy from the EC for Innovative Actions had ended in 2006, a proposal for continuation of the success of IAGII has been entered in the normal application procedures for the Operational Programme. One of the reasons of its success is that IAG offers room for more flexibility and experimentation with regard to policy formats and design. Although it is a programme at the Provincial level, the programme had to be approved by the SNN, as managing agency of the OP North. The management of the IAGIII is with the Province of Groningen. The integration of the various regional programmes and strategies into a coherent strategy for the North is perhaps the most important characteristic, e.g. compared to the regional innovation policy in the South of the Netherlands. See for instance the regional RIM report on North-Brabant. In the South the provinces each have to a larger extent their own fields of specialisation and challenges. In the North the various programmes are more integrated at the NUTS2 level, not only in terms of content but also in terms of programme development and implementation. The degree of integration is most evident in the integration of the three largest programmes: Compass for the North, Bearing North and the OP-Northern Netherlands. An important structural and strategic feature in this respect is that the programmes are largely linked by co-funding and the coherence in the basic strategy. An important reason for integration between the provincial policies into one strategy for the NUTSI regional level of the North was the increased joint bargaining power vis-à-vis the national government. The reason for integrating the several programmes addressing the North is to avoid the fragmentation of visions. In this respect the Pad mantra calling for ‘focus and critical mass’ has had a positive impact on the approach of how to promote the long-term sustainability of investments in the regional innovative competitiveness. The main institution for the co-ordination and implementation of policy efforts is The Northern Netherlands Provinces (In Dutch: Samenwerkingsverband Noord- Nederland, abbreviated to SNN). Since 1992 the Provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe have combined their administrative resources in the Northern Netherlands Provinces. In the SNN framework the North pursues joint policies and negotiates with the government on matters, which concern the North as a whole. The core task is to strengthen the spatial planning and economic structure of the Northern Netherlands and innovation is the main theme. The Northern Netherlands Provinces officially started in 1992 as the joint agreement between the provinces of Drenthe, Groningen and Fryslân. There was already a great deal of cooperation between these provinces in the past, but often on an ad hoc basis and usually related to a specific project. In 1998 an agreement was reached between the Dutch government and the SNN with financial agreements amounting to €2b for the North for the period 2000- 2006. For the Operational Programme €249m is contributed by SNN and €170m by the structural funds (2007-2013).

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At local level, the city of Groningen2 also invests in innovation via a strategic alliance with the universities and the academic hospital (RuG, HUG, and UMCG; €500m for 2005-2010). The four large cities within the North - Leeuwarden, Groningen, Assen, and Emmen - collaborate as NG4, and SNN cooperates with NOM, an investment and development company seeking to stimulate employment and the economy in the North. Generic innovation support to SMEs is given by Syntens, which has an office in the city of Groningen. For many years the national government did not really interact with the provincial government regarding innovation policy. Already in the late 1980’s the national viewpoint was adopted that regions should develop their own strength, without support from the national government. Besides the national subsidies and research and innovation programmes, the remaining national involvement at regional level concerned: the Syntens network with its regional innovation support offices, co- ownership/stakeholder in the regional development agencies such as the NOM in the North, and co-funding the EU Structural Fund regional programmes. As already mentioned, for the North of the Netherlands an exception was made, which meant that they still received national funding for regional development (e.g. for the Compass for the North programme). In 2004 with the national programme ‘Peaks in the Delta’, the situation had changed, since the national government increased its involvement in regional innovation policy. The ‘Peaks in the Delta’ (PiD)programme claimed to follow a bottom-up approach, which was true in the sense that the national Ministry invited the regions to develop plans themselves. The idea generation was indeed de- centralised, but there was also some input from the side of the national government, e.g. concerning the nationally selected priority area’s (key areas or ‘sleutel-gebieden’). Based on the PiD approach the North had to selected and develop ‘peaks’, which are economic concentrations of national importance, a clustering of business activity and knowledge which is or can become of national and international importance based on a strategy of focus and critical mass. This has lead to support for instance towards the development of ‘energy’ as a ‘peak’ for Groningen. More recently that has been more narrowly articulated as ‘bio-energy’. Today one would use these ‘key-area’s’ in relation to the concept of Smart Specialisation. The regional innovation strategies or programmes are developed by programme or steering committees, which include ‘triple-helix’ parties. Since the University Groningen and the Hanzehogeschool Groningen are important players in the innovation system of the region, they have a considerable influence on the policy and strategy development. An important recent trend in the multi-level coordination for regional innovation policy making is the changed approach of the national government. The new administration announced in the beginning of 2011 that both the ‘Peaks in the Delta’ programme and the national funding for the regional development agencies like the NOM will be stopped. The national government owns 99.97% of the shares in the agency, but it is not clear yet to which price they will be sold. The basic funding will gradually be reduced to zero in 2016. The termination of the Peaks in the Delta framework and the national contribution to the regional development agencies basically implies that the national policy level has withdrawn from the regional innovation policy arena. Also the special status of the North seems to have ended.

2 See Gemeente Groningen (Het Akkoord van Groningen 2.0)

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The NOM is the Northern regional development agency. It has several different activities: it serves to attract foreign investments to the North (in cooperation with the national Foreign Investment agency); it participates in innovative SME companies located in the North as minority shareholder; it is engaged in planning and restructuring of industrial sites; and it provides support for innovation. The ‘Top- sectors’ the NOM focuses on include: Water, Energy, Chemical, Agri-Food, sensors and life-sciences. Syntens is another important not-for-profit innovation intermediary, supporting SMEs through numerous activities and projects, ranging from pure intermediation and referrals to providing free consult to improve the innovation process. It is however a regional subsidiary of a national (funded) network (see also section 3.4). Next to the NOM and Syntens, there are other stakeholding intermediate organisations such as the Chambers of Commerce, and the regional department of the employers association VNO NCW. Major players in the regional innovation system are the University of Groningen and other institutes for higher education. Also the Technology Centre North Netherlands (TCNN) in Groningen is an important intermediate organisation, which is engaged in providing business innovation services and running cluster projects. Their main aim is economic reinforcement of the Northern Netherlands through innovation and cooperation, by means of concrete cooperation projects between SMEs and knowledge institutes. The projects concern economic, business and technological feasibility studies, technology projects and specific workshops. The role of large, R&D performing companies is less prominent in Groningen than for instance in the case of North-Brabant. Compared to regions in the West of the country the role of large public funded research institutes is less prominent. Availability and use of policy intelligence tools Evaluations are frequently used for policy learning in the Netherlands at the national policy level, but regional policies in the North and in the province of Groningen are not very frequently evaluated. The most serious evaluations are done externally, and only seldom this includes survey results and impact assessments. There are many policy organisations, which merely (self-) report on a case-wise basis some interesting results and description of activities. These internal evaluations often consist of reporting monitoring data, describing the number of participants and the supported activities, complemented with some case-study examples. In general, evaluations are public. An example of self-reporting on ‘results’ is: “Resultaten en projecten IAG2 2008- 2010”3, which is very pleasant to read, since it reads more like a brochure or magazine. The method consists of interviews. These report have an important function in providing information to the wider public, but as a serious tool for policy intelligence such reporting fails, and more professional, critical and objective evaluations are needed. All the PiD programmes have been evaluated externally by a consultancy firm. The Operational Programme North has been subject to an ex-ante evaluation by the same external consultancy firm. Although it is good to have ex-ante indicators and to see at the end of a programme to what extent those indicators have been met, e.g. in terms of the number of created jobs, it is often not very clear and transparent how the assessments have taken place.

3http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Documenten/Downloads/Resultatenboekje_I AG2.pdf

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The limited use of surveys and questionnaires might be related to the fact that many innovation projects have a limited number of beneficiaries. E.g. there are not hundreds of firms that have used a subsidy scheme under the same conditions for the same kind of activities etc. On the large programmes SNN publishes annual reports. It mostly consists of monitoring data describing the content of certain project activities in boxes, and detailed tables with financial data showing how the actual expenditures relate to the planned budget. The major regional strategies or programmes involving the regional level are always preceded by studies collecting information showing the need for policy, the opportunities of certain sectors, and contextual challenges and global trends. Desk research combined with interviews is the preferred approach for such forward-looking studies. More elaborated forms of foresight are hardly used in regional policy development.

2.3 Key challenges and opportunities Concerning governance the main challenge by far for regional innovation policymakers is the revolutionary change that is caused by the termination of large national funding support for regional development in the North. Without national funding for programmes such as Compass North and the PiD Bearing North the region is faced with a reduction of about half its current budget for regional development. Since the region has spent a large share of this funding for innovation, the change is considerable. According to Crone: “SNN is heading for a revolution. In the coming years we will in principal receive 0 euro from the National government” (Annual report 2010 of The Northern Provinces, p.28). National funds are still available from the national innovation programmes, but the stakeholders in the region will have to compete with proposals of others, based on quality and content of the projects and programmes. This situation is totally different and new for the North and its stakeholders in innovation. It fits however, with the shift in the national approach that has taken place several years ago, namely a shift towards competitive programme based funding for research and innovation. This shift in funding approach has also taken place concerning the funding of university research and funding for the public research institutes. For SNN this implies that they will have to transform from a lobbying and funding agency to a regional network organisation that will bring companies together and help them in applying for grants. It implies a less top-down and more bottom-up approach. Also for the regional development agency NOM the future is challenging, since it will have to do without the annual base funding from the national government, and the national government might gradually sell their shares in several years from now. The provinces will probably be prepared to take over the remaining ownership shares, but the issue has not been resolved yet. A remaining challenge in governance is to keep on finding common agreements on the strategic choices among the three Northern provinces and to enhance the cooperation (regarding innovation) with other regions in Europe. In the past an important reason and motivation for developing a common strategy for the North was based on the stronger position in negotiations for funding from the National government. This lobbying and negotiation argument towards the national government in The Hague will no longer apply. In theory this could lead to more fragmentation in policy in the North and divergence of the innovation strategies at provincial level, and increased importance of policy at local level. However, the results of many years of cooperation and integration in the North are probably the best guaranty that the chosen joint vision and selected priorities will remain the dominant trajectory.

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3. Innovation Policy Instruments and Orientations

As has already become apparent in the former sections of this report, a main problem in analysing the regional innovation policy of the Province of Groningen is related to the definition of ‘the region’, and ‘regional policy’ because there are more definitions effective. Applying only the most strict possible definition of ‘the region’ as the whole of the Province of Groningen, excluding any other regional entity as territorial unit and limiting ‘regional policy’ only to those policies where only the ‘provincial government of Groningen’ is involved, would implicate that this section of the report would not only be empty, but also misleading, since there is always more than one policy level involved somehow.

3.1 The regional innovation policy mix The innovation policies and support available in Groningen consists of a mix of measures designed at national and regional levels. At the sub-national level in the Netherlands there is no formal science or public R&D policy, nor a science budget. To a large extent the national government provides the R&D policy tools and at the regional level these tools are implemented and complemented with regional innovation strategies and programmes. In most provinces in the Netherlands the programmes co-financed by the EU Structural Fund interventions are the most important ones, at least in terms of budget. However, up till now, for the Northern Provinces more funds for regional innovation policy were available, so compared to other regions in the Netherlands the total budget for regional innovation policy has been relatively large. In the province of Groningen regional support is provided to research, technological development and innovation (RTDI) through several programmes at different regional levels, but the programmes are integrated to a large extent by providing co-funding to each other. For the same motivation of enhancing integration and cohesion the three Provincial Innovation Action Programmes (for Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe) have followed the same OP North application procedure. One of the implications of this deliberate integration is that it is not easy to differentiate and compare the programmes. The portfolio of regional innovation policy measures in 2011 available in the Province of Groningen consists of the following main instruments: • OP North (ERDF)4; • Bearing North (PiD)5; • Compass for the North; • Innovative Action Programme Groningen 2010-2012 (IAGIII)6.

4 http://www.rim-europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=14401 5 http://www.rim-europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=13928 6 http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/uitvoering/werken-en-ondernemen/innovatief- actieprogramma-groningen/

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As shown in Table 3-1, the focus of current innovation policies in Groningen is on three categories of support measures, notably: ‘Governance & horizontal research and innovation policies’, ‘Research and Technologies’, and ‘Creation and growth of innovative enterprises’. Within this regional innovation policy mix there is a lack of support measures in the category of ‘markets and innovation culture’, which includes measures like innovation prizes, awareness campaigns, innovative public procurement, and IT rights protection. Also the regional innovation support in the category of human resources (e.g. support to PhDs) is limited because this is mostly addressed by national policy measures funded by the national Ministry of Science and Education, although some activities under this heading have been supported, e.g. from the OP North. Before turning to the main programmes, it should be mentioned that not all-relevant policy support is covered in programmes. To mention one example: besides the involvement of the NOM in implementing innovation programmes, it also provides risk capital to innovative companies by taking minority shares. The NOM invests in ventures, which are either too small or too risky for market-parties to step in. The total budget of OP North 2007-2013 (revision of 2010) is €249m for the seven- year programming period ending in 2013, but out of this budget about €70m is budgeted to support activities in Groningen. In their Mid-term evaluation7 Berenschot concluded that it was a successful choice to spend a large share of about 60% of the Structural Funds budget to the innovative targets related to the Lisbon strategy (SNN 2011), which is higher than in the other Operational Programmes in the Netherlands. The other parts of the programme OP North aim to enhance the attractiveness of the region. Within the OP North innovation policy is headed under ‘Priority 1: Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge economy’ which consists of the following support measures (all of which are co-financed by the EU Structural Fund interventions): • OP North Measure 1.a. Strengthening the knowledge position and innovation potential of North-Netherlands; • OP North Measure 1.b. Strengthening the knowledge level of SMEs; • OP North Measure 1.c. Stimulating entrepreneurship; • OP North Measure 1.d. Strengthening the labour market infrastructure.

7 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/evaluation/evalsed/evaluations/netherl ands/1102_midterm_obj2_en.htm

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Table 3-1 Overview of the regional innovation policy mix

Governance Research and Human Creation Markets & horizontal Technologies Resources and growth and research and of innovation innovation innovative culture policies enterprises

OP North 1.3.1. Cluster 2.2.3. R&D - 4.3.1. Support - Priority1: framework cooperation; to innovative Innovation, policies; 2.2.1. TT start ups incl entrepreneur- 1.3.3. Other Support Gazelles; ship and horizontal infrastructure knowledge policies; 2.3.1. Direct economy support of business R&D (grants and loans); 2.1.2 Public Research Organisations Bearing North 1.3.1. Cluster 2.2.3. R&D - 4.3.1. Support - (PiD) framework cooperation; to innovative policies; 2.2.1. TT start ups incl Support Gazelles; infrastructure Compass for 1.3.3. Other 2.2.3. R&D - - - the North horizontal cooperation; policies; 2.3.1. Direct 1.3.1. Cluster support of framework business R&D policies; (grants and loans) Innovative 1.2.2. 2.2.3. R&D - - - Action Innovation cooperation; Programme strategies; Groningen 1.3.1. Cluster 2010-2012 framework (IAGIII) policies; 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies. Source: Own assessment. The innovation policy mix of instruments of the 2 major current programmes OP North (‘Priority 1: Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge economy’) and Bearing North (PiD) do not differ much, because they are integrated through co- funding of each other. A difference though, is that Bearing North (Koers Noord PiD) is fully oriented to innovation. The OP North Measure 1.a. ‘Strengthening the knowledge position and innovation potential of North-Netherlands’ mostly relates to projects in which the universities and public knowledge institutes and intermediates are beneficiaries. The Compass for the North programme (10 year budget of €414m) has almost ended: originally it should have ended in 2010, but in an additional agreement with the national government, the period was extended for some activities because a part of the budget was not spent. The NIUF is one of the successful measures of the Compass North programme, which is still operational. Over the last years this business oriented support measure has also been funded by the OP North.

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Figure 3-1 Eemshaven, € 600m investments in sustainable energy ports

Source: http://www.energyvalley.nl/attachments/21873_EnergyValleyWorks.pdf. The Innovative Action Programme Groningen 2010-2012 (IAGIII; budget of €5.9m is the only innovation programme and strategy which is focused on the Province itself. Its toolbox of innovation policy is more experimental, small-scale and broader than the larger programmes addressing the whole North. But since it has been developed within the OP North application procedure, it is coherent with the strategy for the North. An example project of the OP North programme is the Energy Valley project Phase III. Its duration period is 2008 – 2011, but it started back in 2003 with the Energy Valley foundation, which stimulated businesses, knowledge institutes and government agencies to work together on clean, reliable and innovative energy. Partners in the project are: Municipalities of Groningen, Leeuwarden, Assen and Emmen, the Provinces of Drenthe, Friesland, Groningen, and North Holland, the NAM, Gasunie, GasTerra, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, University of Groningen, and Groningen Seaports. The EU contribution from ERDF to the current phase is €836,000. The objective of the project is to grow a cluster of international importance in the energy sector. It is estimated that in total within the coming years more than €20b will have been invested in energy projects in the region, generating 10.000 jobs. About three hundred projects fall under this priority for regional development, including issues such as bio-energy, green gas, smart grids, offshore wind and CO2 capture. An example project co-funded by the Bearing North PiD programme (with €657,000) is the Biogas Centre Groningen (BCG). It will be a research centre focused on optimizing the processes that directly and indirectly relate to the fermentation process in industrial installations. Businesses, governments and knowledge institutions can find answers to their questions at BCG and they can test their hypotheses. This project was co-funded by the OP North with €245,000.

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An example, which falls under the IAG measure to support the creative industries, is the Project ‘Serious Gaming’. Visio Northern Netherlands, MAD Image, TNO / ICT and Principal Blue were the participants in this project which was awarded about € 118.000 from Innovative Action Groningen. In the project Serious Gaming a game is being developed for the motorial development of children with visual impairments. The basic principle is that with the use of the Nintendo Wii children can play together with other children with or without a virtual restriction. For the development of the game use is made of the knowledge and services of various innovative companies in the province of Groningen. Visio Northern Netherlands has been the project leader content-wise. MAD Image together with TNO Multimedia / ICT is responsible for the effective development of the games. Project management has been done by Principal Blue. An example of the IAG measure to support cross-sectoral innovation is the IAG project BGA: Biogas from Groninger Algae residue. The companies Process, Wendelin, and Bioclear cooperated with the Hanze University Groningen and Groningen University. The project was awarded €149.000. Within the project the participating companies and universities do research together on a system of production, preparation and bio-fermentation of biomass-based algae. The innovative nature of the project lies in the combination of practical applications of the expected results with the entirely new application of DNA technology in the analysis and possible control of the fermentation systems. The practical applications lie in the choice of species of algae and the opportunities they offer to serve as an energy source. Within the IAG support measure for Healthy Ageing two project examples are presented here: The IAG project Dementia in the digital age seeks to improve the wellbeing of dementia patients and caregivers in an innovative way and to reduce the probability of failure of caregivers. Several parties, including Alzheimer's Foundation Netherlands (Groningen Department) Humanitas, the UMCG, Meander Care Group, Lentis /Dignis (Team 290) and the two northern SMEs aXtion and UMACO have joined efforts. The network focuses on developing a virtual environment on the Internet with smart ICT applications and services. For this project about €106,000 is awarded. The AGE-reader is a handheld medical device designed for non-invasive (and thus for the patient less stressful) determination of the amount of AGEs (Advanced Glycation Endproducts) by measuring fluorescence in the skin. The application is particularly designed for early mapping of cardiovascular complications, such as a heart attack or stroke, but also diabetes. This can contribute to better treatment. This project is a co-operation between DiagnOptics Technologies and the UMCG (University Medical Centre Groningen). A contribution from IAG of €246,740 is paid. From the Compass for the North programme we mention the measure NIOF: the Northern Innovation Support Facility. Entrepreneurs may receive funding for consultancy for new products or services for the preparation of marketing plans, conducting of market surveys and preparing plans for a feasibility regarding takeovers. In addition, aid may be obtained for implementation of a development or for hiring a high-educated employee. As in previous years NIOF has proved again in 2010 to be extremely popular. There were 1,126 applications submitted. In total €12.2m in grants were awarded. The range of support measures is quite broad. With the measures under the OP North priority ‘Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge economy’ the attention to young and innovative entrepreneurs has increased and also the issue of technology transfer, spin-offs and valorisation of research has improved. The element of prioritising key areas has been further developed towards clusters, mostly in projects in which firms and research institutes cooperate. Several innovation policies such as fiscal incentives and IPR related policies are not implemented by the regional level, but are available at the national policy level, which makes sense because these policies hardly have a regional specific nature.

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The target group for the funding for SMEs has slightly narrowed in the sense that the measures have been used more selectively towards those firms that have innovation potential. We can conclude that the three most important regional innovation policy measures and programmes for the province of Groningen are: 1. The OP North ‘Priority 1: Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge economy’, which has been well received by the beneficiaries and has a considerable budget. 2. Bearing North PiD, which fully addresses innovation. The influence of the national Ministry resulted in coherence with the national policy and stronger emphasis on valorisation of knowledge and application of innovations. 3. Innovation Actions Groningen 2010-2012 is less important in budget, but for Groningen it has value added: beneficiaries appreciate the easy access, and it offers some room and flexibility for experimenting and adding some provincial specific accents. The three main measures can hardly be rated differently because they are highly integrated through co-funding (In Dutch: ‘zwaluwstaarten’). Although the national Ministry through its influence on Bearing North PiD has emphasised the importance of demand-oriented knowledge validation, the integrated programmes of the North still have a large supply oriented, knowledge development component. In terms of the policy-mix the policy initiatives (within the integrated programmes) regarding technology transfer, spin-off, start-ups and SMEs are very valuable to improve the balance of the innovation system, supporting a shift towards a more demand-driven and less supply-driven approach.

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Table 3-2 Existing regional innovation support measures and programmes

Title Duration Policy priorities Budget Organisation responsible More information Operational Programme 2007-2013 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies; €249.4m The Northern Netherlands http://www.rim- Northern Netherlands 2007-2013 2.2.3. R&D cooperation; (part for Provinces europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=1 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies; Province of 4401 2.3.1. Direct support of business R&D Groningen) (grants and loans) Bearing North (PiD), On the way 2007-2010 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies; €120m The Northern Netherlands http://www.rim- to ‘Peaks’, Sustainable Growth by 2.2.3. R&D cooperation; (part for Provinces europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=1 transition to a knowledge 4.3.1. Support to innovative start ups Province of 3928 economy incl Gazelles; Groningen) 2.2.1. TT Support infrastructure Compass for the North 2000-2011 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies; € 414.3m The Northern Netherlands 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies; (part for Provinces 2.2.3. R&D cooperation; Province of 2.3.1. Direct support of business R&D Groningen) (grants and loans) Innovative Action Programme 2010-2012 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies; € 5.9m Province of Groningen http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/uitv Groningen 2010-2012 (IAGIII) 2.2.3. R&D cooperation; oering/werken-en- 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies; ondernemen/innovatief- 1.2.2. Innovation strategies actieprogramma-groningen/ Innovative Action Programme 2008-2010 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies; € 6m Province of Groningen http://www.rim- Groningen 2008-2010 (IAGII) 2.2.3. R&D cooperation; europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=1 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies; 4170&r=NL11 1.2.2. Innovation strategies Groningen Tourism Subsidy 2009-2012 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies € 3.7m The Northern Netherlands http://www.rim- Scheme 2009-2012 (STINAG) Provinces europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=1 4169&r=NL11 Northern Innovation Support 2000-2012 2.3.1. Direct support of business R&D € 10.7m The Northern Netherlands http://www.rim- Facility (grants and loans); (in 2011) Provinces (SNN) europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.support&n=1 3.3.2. Recruitment of skilled 4127&r=NL11 personnel in enterprises; (part for 4.2.1. Support to innovation Province of management and advisory services Groningen) Source: Own assessment.

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3.2 Appraisal of regional innovation policies A major achievement of the innovation policy in Groningen (Nuts2 region) is the coordination and cooperation with the other provinces in the North, which is beneficial for the policy at both these levels of governance. The policies are also coherent with the national policy, especially in terms of linkages with the national key- areas (‘Sleutelgebieden’) which could pay off regarding the Innovation contracts of the future Topsectors policy at national level. Overall, the coherence between policies at different policy levels seems to be higher than in the other part of the country. In terms of the policy-mix the previous paragraph concluded that the policy initiatives regarding technology transfer, valorisation, spin-offs, start-ups and SMEs are very valuable to improve the balance of the innovation system in which currently the universities as regional stakeholders on the supply-side, fulfil a dominant role. Prioritisation, developing ‘focus and critical mass’ and Smart Specialisation is quite well developed in the region. To a large extent this has been a political process of balancing between and linking to those at local and national level. Paragraph 3.5 elaborates on the promising fields of Smart Specialisation for Groningen: ‘Healthy Ageing, Energy and Bio-based Economy’. The integration through co-funding between OP North and Bearing North PiD has caused some difficulties in the beginning of the OP North period, but the mid-term evaluation (Berenschot 2011) shows that applicants of proposals have acknowledged and appreciated the result in terms of the increased simplicity of application procedures. The Mid Term Evaluation of all regional Operational Programmes for 2007-2013 in the Netherlands (Berenschot 2011), shows that in this period 65 projects have been implemented with on average a contribution of €1.3m, which is similar to the other regions in the Netherlands. The evaluation shows that responding beneficiaries in the North are quite positive about the programme. They were asked to rate the extent to which the objectives of OP North in general are being met. E.g., for OP North 23% of the beneficiaries had answered ‘very good’, while for the country as a whole this share was considerably lower with 15 %. Also the assessment of the intermediates and programme managers is more positive that in the other parts of the country, since 66% have answered ‘good’ or ‘very good’, while at national lever such positive answers are given by a lower share of 47% of the respondents (Table 3-3). Table 3-3 Assessment by intermediaries on the extent OP North is reaching the objectives

To what extent are the North National (The Netherlands) targets of the programme in general sense being reached Very good 13% 14% Good 53% 33% Not good/ not bad 7% 18% Bad 7% 11% Very bad 0% 1% Do not know / no opinion 20% 22% Source: Berenschot (2011).

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Also the so-called ‘output’ indicators for OP North priority 1 (on October 2010) are positive in the sense that the ex-ante set targets are estimated to be more than fully reached at the end of the period. Remarkable are the actual public R&D investments, which are considerably larger than targeted, which also implies that the actual support to investments in public R&D is much higher than for private R&D investments. The fact that more policy support has been spent on public R&D than on Business R&D has not lead to an improved balance between public and private R&D. In a next programme period more efforts should be made to increase business R&D which is not only low compared to most regions in Europe, but also decreasing over the last 10 years (see section 1.2). However, the programme has a large additionality in terms of additional induced private investments (Table 3.4). Another good result of OP North is that it will have supported more than 4,000 SMEs and almost 400 start-ups. Also the estimated number of created jobs as a result of the innovation-oriented priority of OP North is above expectations with 6,000 jobs for the 2007-2010 period. Table 3-4 Status on output- and outcome-indicators of OP North priority 1 on October 2010

Indicator Target Status based on Status based on commitments commitments Number of R&D projects 20 26 130% Private R&D investments €20m €61m 306% Public R&D investments €20m €151m 753% Generated additional private - € 273m - investments Number of supported start-up and 60 364 607% firms < 5 years old Number of supported SMEs 1000 4353 435% Number of (new) co-operations 6 63 1050% between firms and R&D institutes Number of gross created jobs (fte) 1,500 6,027 402% Source: Berenschot (2011).

3.3 Good practice case: the Healthy Ageing Network North Netherlands (HANNN) HANNN was established in 2009. It stimulates the economic development of the Northern Netherlands through connecting knowledge institutions, companies, and government in the fields of diseases and health. This project has been selected as a case of good practice for several reasons. First, it is not an ad-hoc policy since it complements the former support and achievements in Life Science. Moreover, it is a good example how to promote more narrow thematic fields of specialisation and prioritisation within rather broad areas such as ‘Life Science’, which probably can be found as a priority area in at least half of all regions in Europe. The project is successful in terms of the investments generated by third parties, because the total project costs are €3m but the contribution by ‘ERDF’ is €0.1m, and it directly addresses one of the strategic innovation policy objectives of the Province of Groningen and of the whole North of the Netherlands.

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The Healthy Ageing Network North Netherlands8 is an initiative of amongst others the UMCG (the academic hospital Groningen) and Groningen University. It aims to find solutions to enhance the quality of life of the ageing population and to minimise the social cost of health and healthcare. Particularly North Netherlands is an appropriate region for such an initiative because the number of older people is increasing more quickly than in many other regions. The goal of HANNN is creating opportunities for more sales and activity, by stimulating knowledge, innovation / knowledge transfer and business development around ‘healthy ageing’. HANNN focuses on five core areas: life sciences, food and nutrition, medical technology, care & cure and healthy lifestyle. The approach is therefore multidisciplinary (Figure 3.2). With the Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands the business community, research institutions, governments and intermediate organizations jointly build on existing initiatives and programs in the field of Healthy aging. In this respect the network acts as an umbrella: it provides single initiatives an overarching perspective, placing them in a regional strategy, and provides a platform to extra-regional linkages. HANNN promotes, accelerates, and links. Figure 3-2 Multi-disciplinary fields and variety of projects which contribute to Healthy Ageing

An important pillar of HANNN is the biobank of ‘LifeLines’9, a project that started in 2006 and was supported by the former Operational Programme. In this research 165,000 (healthy and sick) participants from three generations are followed for at least thirty years to gain insight into the factors that are important when it comes to the development and course of chronic diseases. HANNN perceives this project as the basis for a large diversity of possibilities for businesses. HANNN is involved in the rollout of LifeLines in northern Germany, and started co-operations with other ‘bio- banks’ in Europe. Another pillar is the European Research Institute on the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA); a leading European institute that attracts top national and international researchers who work on the biology of ageing. Bringing together these top researchers leads to new fundamental insights that result in improved possibilities for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

8 Link: http://www.hannn.eu/en/home/ 9 Link: www.lifelines.nl

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Founding participants in HANNN include: Drenthe, Friesland, Groningen (city and province), UMCG, NHL, Hanzehogeschool, Stenden, Van Hall Larenstein, NOM, BioExplorer, Brains On-line, FrieslandCampina, IBM, IQ Corporation, Merck, Philips, PRA International, Syncom, QPS / Xendo, and ZIF. The network is also working on a proposal within the EU programme Regions of Knowledge in order to build a network of clusters, mostly located in Scandinavia. One of the important strategic aspects of the HANNN project is that it helps to transform from a supply-driven innovation approach to a more demand-driven innovation concept, because it generates possibilities to extent the activities towards developing the region as a ‘living lab’, involving regional end-users of the innovations.

3.4 Portfolio of innovation support measures A considerable part of all the support measures available in the Province of Groningen concerns national policy measures. Especially some science and research policy fields are absent at the regional level in the Netherlands. E.g. schemes for mobility of researchers, R&D tax-credits and IPR support are sufficiently addressed by national measures. The WBSO tax credit facility from the national innovation policy agency AgencyNL is not used to a large extent by firms from Groningen, compared to firms in other regions in the Netherlands. Also the growth in the use of this national policy support measure has been lower than in other Dutch regions. Other instruments such as Vouchers are part of the national ‘Basic package’ of generic support for firms in general and SMEs in particular. The goal of this basic package is to increase the share of firms, which innovate. For instance some of the services provided by Syntens to SMEs belong to this basic-package. The aim of Syntens is to increase the revenue of SMEs by means of innovation. Activities cover the entire innovation process, but focus on the initial phase of innovation processes. Activities are offered to SMEs in six pre-designated sectors: industry, human health, construction, creative industry, wholesale & logistics, and food & agribusiness. They include individual consult, establishing Innovation Action Plans, organising workshops on relevant themes, etc. The Syntens consultants work impartially and match the entrepreneur to valuable third parties via their network of companies and institutions. Syntens employs approximately 450 people in total. The head office is located in Nieuwegein in the West of the country, and Syntens has fifteen regional offices throughout the Netherlands. There are close contacts with the national, provincial, and regional government, political circles and a large number of industrial associations operating in the region. Thanks to the regional network structure, the innovation consultants are easily accessible for entrepreneurs. Syntens’ activities are mainly funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, but also by regional governments, and several other public sector organisations contribute. A major challenge for Syntens in the North is to mobilise SMEs and increase their involvement in the regional innovation strategy, because currently the large dominant players in the innovation system are the research institutes. Next to this basic-package, which for instance also includes the services provided by Syntens, the national innovation policy consists of programmes, which are addressing thematic priorities and key-areas/sectors. Applying the programmatic approach is one way to promote more ‘focus and critical mass’, which for several years has been the main motto of national policy.

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For the future new Innovation Contracts are foreseen regarding Top-sectors which are meant to come to a balanced, dedicated and demand-oriented policy-mix of policy measures promoting fundamental and applied research and valorisation. Regarding the coordination between national and regional policy level, it is important to note that recently the national Ministry seems to have become aware that regional development agencies like NOM have an important role to play. Not only in the development and implementation of regional policies, but also in order to promote coherence with the national policy; so the Ministry might still be interested to keep a minority ownership in the NOM.

3.5 Towards smart specialisation policies Smart specialisation10 is about placing greater emphasis on innovation and focusing scarce human and financial RTDI resources in a few globally competitive areas in order to boost regional economic growth and prosperity. Smart specialisation strategies focus on fields that will complement the region’s productive assets, to build on and strengthen existing comparative advantage. The complementary investments do not focus on either industry or public research, but on both. Policy makers should not play the only or even dominant role in the process of ‘selecting the right areas for specialisation’, finding the right areas of specialisation should be an ‘entrepreneurial’ and learning process involving stakeholders from regional industry & public research. This is why it is important to develop such strategies in a consultative process, involving both the supply- and demand-side: the providers of inventions and the users of innovations. Figure 3-3 Cross-links between clusters in North Netherlands

Source: SNN (2011)11.

10 See RIM Thematic paper 2 on this subject: http://www.rim- europa.eu/index.cfm?q=p.reportDetails&id=15426 11 http://www.snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=625

22 Regional Innovation Monitor

The innovation strategy of the Province of Groningen and the North of the Netherlands is already quite advanced in developing Smart Specialisation during the last years. Although the region doesn’t have a long tradition in cluster policy, it has adopted the approach of the ‘Peaks in the Delta’ framework to develop Key Areas (‘Sleutelgebieden’) and emphasise “focus and critical mass”. This is an ongoing, challenging process in which many levels of governance are involved. The selection of the fields of Smart Specialisation is influenced by the national priorities, those at the local level, provincial level, and the level of the North. Because it was important for the Northern provinces to negotiate with the national government on the additional national funds for regional development, the region was forced to agree on a common strategy and it was clear that not every province could come with a list of several own topics. The prioritised themes in the IAG programme which addresses innovation in the Province of Groningen are: Healthy ageing, Biobased economy, Creative industry, and a generic theme of Trans-sectoral innovation. The developments regarding creative industries are relatively new and promising, but in relation to Smart Specialisation it has not matured enough yet. One of the most recent reports on priority setting is the position paper (SNN 2011) produced by the main (policy) stakeholders12 in the North. First the paper restates the Key Clusters prioritised at the level of North Netherlands: Energy; Healthy Ageing; Agribusiness; Sensor Technology, and Water Technology. The joint statement continues by saying that the key clusters are interlinked in the Northern Netherlands. The network between the clusters makes it possible to create important links, for instance between energy and water technology (such as climate adaptation), energy and agribusiness (such as the bio-based economy), Healthy Ageing and agribusiness (for example food). All clusters can be seen in relation to sensor technology (sensor development, data processing and measuring techniques). Figure 3-3 presents an overview of these cross-links. Such joint policy statements and cross-linking exercises are very relevant for identifying specific strengths in the region that can best be exploited, but so far, the process of discovery seems to be mainly a political process. Including more bottom-up, entrepreneurial and demand oriented elements would improve this process. Three promising areas for Smart Specialisation Strategies concerning the Province of Groningen (and the North) are: Energy, Healthy Ageing, and Bio-based Economy. Energy The Northern Netherlands is the region where knowledge on sustainable energy converges. In section 3.1 the project supporting the Energy Valley has already been mentioned. The concentration of the gas industry and a growing position in electricity production give the Northern Netherlands a leading role in the area of sustainable energy and climate policy. Businesses will be investing more than €20b in the energy sector of the Northern Netherlands. Energy valley concerns a broad package of projects in oil and gas exploitation, constructing power stations, green-gas production, wind energy, etc.

12 Northern Netherlands Provinces (SNN), University of Groningen, Higher Vocational Education institutions, University Medical Center Groningen, Investment and development agency for the Northern Netherlands (NOM), Chamber of Commerce, Social and Economic Council Northern Netherlands, Clusters.

Regional Innovation Monitor 23

More recent, six million Euros is being invested in the development of an Energy Academy in Groningen. The money is part of the Green Deals between the State and the Municipality of Groningen. The Energy Academy will be a high-quality institution at Zernike Park, where research is done into energy and where several hundred students are being trained. The university has recently announced that five internationally well known scientists will be appointed. The institute is a partnership of the University of Groningen, Hanzehogeschool, the Municipality and the Province of Groningen and a few companies, such as GasTerra. According to the ambitious plans, some three thousand students should be trained there at higher education level by 2020. In addition, five specialist centres are to be developed for green energy. The Northern Investment and Development Agency (NOM) also supports the development of Energy as a Smart Specialisation. This includes: business development, innovation projects, risk-capital investments in firms of the cluster, and for instance by setting up the New Energy Business Community. According to the NOM there are in the North 300 to 400 firms active in the energy sector, employing about 30,000 people. One of the promising activities within the sector concerns Smart Grid and smart energy systems. Together with others in the Energy sector the NOM is developing a network of firms on this growing line of business. In the Energy Valley region several municipalities are designating their planned new neighbourhoods to become Smart Grid pilot locations to test new technologies in practice. This stimulates demand for new technologies and smart grids solutions. In this respect the North is becoming a ‘lead-market’. The first life test-bed and demonstration project started in Hoogkerk, located near the city of Groningen. In this residential area, a live demonstration of the concept of a Smart Grid on an extended scale (some 50 ICT-network connected nodes) with a diversity of agent nodes is conducted. Coordination and optimization of energy production and demand is done in real time. Dozens of households and their appliances are connected with sustainable energy sources such as solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps with heat storage, mobile and static electricity storage (Figure 3-4). Figure 3-4 Concept of Smart Grid solution

Source: www.powermatchingcity.nl.

24 Regional Innovation Monitor

Healthy Ageing Already mentioned in paragraph 3.1 was the project supporting the Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands (HANNN), which offers an integrated approach to healthy ageing. Government, businesses, and knowledge institutes in the Northern Netherlands, together with partners from Europe, seem to be able to turn this field of specialisation into an economic growth engine for the region. Medical research, including ‘care & cure’, and innovative developments in the food sector are focused on enabling human beings to age healthily. The higher-education institutions in the Northern Netherlands have chosen Healthy Ageing as a focus area. The University Medical Centre Groningen pays special attention to healthy and active ageing in all its core tasks – research, patient care, education and training. Next to the already mentioned Lifelines project and the European Research Institute on the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA), the Healthy Ageing Campus Netherlands also supports spin-offs and cooperates with firms in the areas of food, (e-) Health, medical devices, medical imaging and diagnostics, and pharmacy. Members of the Healthy Ageing Campus Netherlands have fast, straightforward access to the available knowledge and facilities within the knowledge cluster. The Campus management charts the needs of industry, patients, public-sector organisations, care insurers and capital providers, and matches these to research. ‘Talent scouting’ is also carried out to identify possibilities for translating research into start-ups and licences. Also Healthy Ageing is a very good topic for developing ‘living-labs’, demonstration projects, and lead-market initiatives. With such demand-oriented initiatives the cluster can not only transform research and knowledge into innovations and economic development, but it also provides the opportunity to involve the whole region in this knowledge economy process. Biobased Economy The third ‘Peak’ of the region that can be developed as a Smart Specialisation Strategy for Groningen (and the North) is labelled: Biobased Economy. One of the strong aspects of Biobased Economy is that it links the innovative competitiveness of three main sectors of the North: chemical, agriculture and energy. Agriculture products and by-products are used and transformed into chemicals, food ingredients and energy. Regarding this field of regional specialisation we only mention here the Carbohydrate Competence Centre (CCC). This new centre of expertise has its focus in the field of carbohydrates. Prominent knowledge institutes and companies collaborate. The main office is in the city of Groningen. Biomass from agricultural by-products contains huge amounts of carbohydrates. These can be processed into organic chemicals, stock feed, food-ingredients and bio-energy, for example. This centre is a good instrument to link science to industry and to promote demand-oriented research and innovation. For the university researchers involved it implied quite a mind-shift, because they were not used to the situation that companies have influence in setting the research agenda.

3.6 Possible future orientations and opportunities Among the main challenges and opportunities identified for Groningen regarding innovation are: • Deploying the urban concentration of talent and university research for innovative competitiveness and entrepreneurship; • Enhancing R&D, growth and export of innovative firms; • Involving the peripheral parts of the region in developing the prioritised innovation themes concerning Healthy Ageing, Energy and Bio-based Economy.

Regional Innovation Monitor 25

With regard to governance the main challenges are to adjust to a new situation in the relation between the region (as part of the North) and the national government, because it has withdrawn as a source for basic funding for regional development. The regional actors can apply for funding within national programmes and innovation contracts, but this funding would not be the result of lobbying, but based on the quality of the proposals compared to proposals of others. In this sense the national government will no longer provide funds for the sake of regional cohesion at national level, but based on excellence and innovation potential. Organising bottom-up processes and partnerships for generating ideas, initiatives and project proposals seems to become even more relevant. Concerning the regional innovation policy-mix the conclusion was drawn that a considerable part of the support was spent on public R&D. Although the results are promising, the next period of innovation policy should be more demand-oriented, supporting the private R&D, innovation and business development, focusing on economic application of knowledge and innovations. Concerning the development of a smart specialisation strategy the region is already quite advanced. However, the current prioritisation processes are to some extent political processes, involving governments of various levels and public research institutes. It would also be good to organise a more ‘entrepreneurial process of discovery’ by organising consultation sessions and develop partnerships with the business sector, and especially SMEs. E.g. the recent 2011 position paper concerning the cross-links between the clusters could be discussed in decentralised working groups involving relevant companies. Moreover, this discovery process could be backed-up by more policy intelligence, e.g. in the form of a regional foresight exercise. In short, possible future orientations and opportunities are in: 1. Exploiting the developed strengths in focussed and demand-oriented public R&D, by intensifying the support for business development and innovative companies After having strengthened the research side and the public-private co-operation with companies, it becomes important to focus more on direct support for innovation and growth in the private sector. 2. Develop bottom-up processes and partnerships involving SMEs for the identification, development and implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies It is important to organise a more bottom-up and ‘entrepreneurial process of discovery’ by organising consultation sessions and develop partnerships with the business sector, and especially SMEs. 3. Invest in demand-oriented policies such as demonstration projects, ‘living-labs’ and test-beds regarding Energy, Healthy Ageing and Bio- based Economy. These policies could be used to develop more concrete ‘lead-markets’ Smart Specialisation strategies on Energy, Healthy Ageing and Bio-based Economy are promising for the region. A common opportunity on the three mentioned fields for Smart Specialisation is to develop more demand-oriented policies such as demonstration and pilot projects, ‘living-labs’ and test-beds. Also the more peripheral parts of the region can benefit such a diffusion of innovation activities.

26 Regional Innovation Monitor

Appendix A Bibliography

Berenschot (2010) “Pieken in de Delta; Evaluatie subsidieregeling”. Berenschot (2011), “Mid Term Evaluatie EFRO D2 2007-2013; Bijlagenboek 1: Regiospecifieke deelrapportages, Bijlage A: Operationeel Programma Noord- Nederland. Bureau Louter (2008) “Pieken in beeld; Nulmeting Pieken in de Delta Monitor”. Available at: www.minez.nl. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (2010), “De regionale economie 2009”. Available at: http://www.cbs.nl/NR/rdonlyres/59CF873E-DA67-44BF-BC8F- 169A40CEFBB6/0/2009p42pub.pdf. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Mathilda Copinga & Wilco de Jong (2010) “Regionale innovatie in Nederland; Community Innovation Survey 2004 en 2006”. CBS, Den Haag/Heerlen. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (2011), “Regionale innovatie in Nederland, Community Innovation Survey 2004, 2006, 2008”. Available at: www.cbs.nl/NR/rdonlyres/ABD86BF1-2426-4CF7-BE58- E7089177FFF4/0/110525regionaleinnovatienederlandcis20042008mw.xls. Energy Valley (2011), “Energy Valley works; Investments in the Northern Netherlands for a clean and reliable European energy future”. Europese Commissie (2010), “Besluit van de Commissie tot wijziging van het operationele programma ‘Noord-Nederland’, EFRO, CCI 2007NL162PO001. Eurostat (2011), Data on Science and Technology and Innovation. Available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/science_technology_innovation /data/database. Gemeente Groningen (2011), “Samen investeren in kennis en innovatie; city of talent”. Ministry of Economic Affairs (2007), “Nationaal Strategisch Referentiekader Structuurfondsen 2007 –2013”. The Hague, EZ. Provincie Groningen (2011), “Energiek en scherp aan de wind; Coalitieakkoord Provincie Groningen 2011-2015, van PVDA, VVD, D66 en Groen Links”. Provincie Groningen (2010), “Innovatief Actieprogramma Groningen 2010-2012”. Available at: http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/loket/subsidies/werken-en- ondernemen/innovatief-actieprogramma-groningen/. Provincie Groningen (2010), “Resultaten en projecten IAG2 2008-2010. Available at: http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/loket/subsidies/werken-en- ondernemen/innovatief-actieprogramma-groningen/. Provincie Groningen (2011), Economie in het Noorden. Available at: http://www.economieinhetnoorden.nl/. Provincie Groningen (2011), Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland, “Koers Noord op weg naar pieken”. Available at: http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Documenten/Document/ opwegnaarpieken.pdf. SNN (2005), Strategische agenda voor Noord-Nederland 2007-2013; Visie in ontwikkeling van Drenthe, Fryslan en Groningen in het Samenwerkingsverband Noord-nederland”. SNN (2007), “Operationeel Programma Noord-Nederland 2007-2013; Doelstelling 2 ‘Regionale concurrentiekracht’ Europees Fond voor Regionale Ontwikkeling (EFRO).”

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SNN (2009), “koers Noord, Op weg naar de Pieken; Duurzame groei door omschakeling naar een kenniseconomie”. SNN (2011), “Jaarrapportage 2010; Koers Noord, op weg naar de Pieken, voortgang onderdeel ‘transitie”. Available at: http://www.snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=625. SNN (2011), “Jaarverslag Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland; Gefocust op innovatie”. Available at: http://www.snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=625. SNN (2011), “Jaarrapportage 2010; voortgang Kompas voor het Noorden”. Available at: http://www.snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=625. SNN (2011), “Jaarrapportage 2010 Operationeel Programma Noord-Nederland 2007- 2013; Doelstelling 2 ‘Regionale concurrentiekracht’ Europees Fond voor Regionale Ontwikkeling (EFRO). Available at: http://www.snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=625. SNN (2011), ‘Position paper: The Northern Netherlands and the EU 2020’. Available at: http://www.snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=625.

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Appendix B Stakeholders consulted

1. Geert Meijerink, Department of Economic Affairs of the Province of Groningen (17 November 2011). 2. Janika Horvath, Regional Innovation Manager, Syntens (18 November 2011). 3. Eisse Luitjens, Manager development & Innovation, NOM Northern Development Agency (18 November 2011).

Regional Innovation Monitor 29

Appendix C RIM Repository information

30 Regional Innovation Monitor Baseline regional profile

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Province of Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Regional Profile

Introduction

Groningen is one of 12 Dutch provinces, located in the Northern Netherlands. The Northern Netherlands is relatively sparsely populated and traditionally lagging behind in terms of economy, although much has been done recently to catch up with the rest of the country. [1] Groningen has a relatively low research and development (R&D) intensity compared to other Dutch provinces and public expenditures dominate Groningen's R&D efforts. The province's regional strengths are energy and life sciences.

[1] Pres. SNN, 'The N. Netherlands, co-operation between 3 provinces', 16-02-09

Repository

Support measures Bearing North, On the way to ‘Peaks’, Sustainable Growth by transition to a knowledge economy Operational Programme Northern Netherlands 2007-2013 Northern Innovation Support Facility Groningen Tourism Subsidy Scheme 2009-2012 (STINAG) Innovative Action Programme Groningen 2008-2010 (IAG) Policy documents Coalition agreement Province of Groningen 2011-2015 Innovative Action Programme Groningen 2008-2010 The Agreement of Groningen 2.0, Investing in knowledge and innovation together Organisations Province of Groningen NOM, Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands The Northern Netherlands Provinces

Economy

The province of Groningen is the seventh largest province of the Netherlands (2.960 km 2 , 7% of total Dutch area). It has 577,081 inhabitants (30-11-2009, CBS Stat line) (3.5% of total Dutch pop.). Its regional gross domestic product (GDP) of €20b is 4% of Dutch GDP. [1] Annual growth rate of regional GDP was 7.0% between 2000-2008, which is significantly above Dutch average for the same period (4.5%). 2 GDP per inhabitant (GDP/inh) of the region is slightly above the Dutch average, which is above EU25 average, but below leading regions in Europe. Intraregional differences in GDP/inh are quite large. In 2006, the northeast had a GDP/inh that was twice that of the east of Groningen. The west part of Groningen's (including the city of Groningen) GDP/inh was three times of that in the east (' Economie in het Noorden'). Major sectors in Groningen are mineral extraction, and industry and energy supply, each accounting for 25% of the total production (in €) for 2006 (' Economie in het Noorden'). The business services sector accounted for 10% in that same year. With shares of 5.5-6.0% of the overall production, the sectors trade and repair, transportation, storage and communication, and health are next in line. Leading areas identified as part of the national ' Peaks in the Delta' (PiD) initiative to support regional strengths, are: energy, water, sensor technology, agribusiness, life sciences (LS), and tourism. Of the Northern provinces' (Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe) regional strengths, energy and LS are most prominently represented in Groningen. Major companies in energy are Gasunie (gas transport and infrastructure) and GasTerra (gas trading). Together with Amsterdam, Groningen holds the second position nationally in the LS field in terms of number of companies, highly educated employees, and turnover of "dedicated" [2] LS companies.

[1] DG Research Reg. Key Figures Database [2] Knowledge intensive, specialised companies, highly active in R&D, outcomes of which are both used internally as well as sold for use in external processes, products and/or services.

Research, Development & Innovation

At 1.5% of GDP, Groningen has one of the lower research and development (R&D) intensities of all of the Dutch provinces (national average 1.83%), but relatively high in the north (Friesland and Drenthe each having an intensity of 0.7%). 2 Private contributions (20% of gross expenditures on R&D (GERD) are very low compared to the Dutch average (57% of GERD), with public expenditures dominating Groningen's R&D efforts. In 2009, the province's only university, the University of Groningen (RuG), had 26,643 students, 413 professors, 5,500 staff members in total, and produced 5,000 scientific publications [1]. In 'The Times Higher Education Supplement World University Ranking 2009' it was ranked 138 th among world universities. In the Shanghai ranking, RuG was ranked 101 st worldwide, and 33 rd in Europe. Groningen also has a college of applied sciences, Hanze University Groningen (HUG). [2] In 2009, it had 24,315 students, 2,708 staff members in total (of which educative: 55%, supportive: 39%, and management: 6%), and produced 105 publications [3]. Most of the public research is conducted by research institutes with strong relations to the university and the college. The knowledge base in energy and LS is manifested in the Energy Delta Research Centre, the Energy Centre of Applied Research and Innovation, various institutes at University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG), the Centre of Applied Research and Innovation (Care Rehabilitation, Education & Sport), and the Institute for LS and Technology. Another important public research institute is TNO-ICT (375 employees in 2008 [4], located in Groningen, Enschede, and Delft). Energy Valley is a foundation with over 130 members (research institutes, companies, and government). Its ambition is to make the region an internationally renowned energy hub. It does this by working together in research and innovation, among other areas. Gasunie Research, one of the world's leading natural gas technology research centres, is located in Groningen. In 2008, 496 companies were active in the LS (of which 'LS-related industry': 41%, and 'LS Research and Consulting': 20%).

[1] Ann. Report RuG 2009 (Dutch) [2] No ranking available. [3] Ann. Report HHG 2009 (Dutch) [4] Pres. TNO ICT, afdeling Security, 30-01-08

Governance

RTDI governance in the Netherlands is multi-level, the national level being the most important. Here the largest budgets are spent and most decisions on (semi-) public research institutes are made. Within national RTDI policy there is a regional component that since 2006 is focused on turning existing regional strengths into economic 'peaks' of worldwide recognition (Peaks in the Delta, PiD, €216m for 2006-2010). Regional governments add to the national budget, so that relatively large funds become available for regional RTDI programmes. Groningen is part of the PiD region 'North', for which €20m was made available in 2009. [1] Provinces receive funding from national authorities (and EC funds) but generate no direct tax-income. The main role of provinces is organisation of spatial development (in economic domain, e.g. development of industrial estates). Provinces have no formal role in industrial, research, or higher education policy. However, they are a player in the Dutch consensus oriented consultative culture and provinces see their limited role as instrumental for broader regional goals. Groningen's innovation policy budget for 2008-2010 is €1.45m. [2] The city of Groningen also invests in innovation via a strategic alliance with RuG, HUG, and UMCG (€500m for 2005-2010) [3]. Since 1992 the provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe have combined their resources in Samenwerkingsverband Noord Nederland (SNN) to strengthen the regional economy by pursuing joint policies and negotiation with national and European government on common Northern interests. For the Operational Programme policy goals, €370m is contributed by SNN and €170m by the structural funds (2007-2013). [4] The four large cities within the region - Leeuwarden, Groningen, Assen, and Emmen - collaborate as NG4, and SNN cooperates with NOM , an investment and development company seeking to stimulate employment and the economy in the North. Generic innovation support to SMEs is given by Syntens, which has an office in the city of Groningen.

[1] 'Handleiding PiD', 10 april 2009 [2] Prov. Groningen (2007) 'IAG 2008-2010' [3] Gem. Groningen, RuG, HUG, UMCG (2009), 'Het Akkoord van Groningen 2.0, Samen investeren in kennis en innovatie' [4] SNN (2006), 'Noord-NL en OP EFRO, versterking van de noordelijke economie'

Policy

The innovation policy trends are made explicit in the PiD programming, and are aimed at supporting existing regional strengths. The PiD programme for the North aims at strengthening the (inter) national competitive position of the Northern provinces by focusing on energy, water, sensor technology, agribusiness, LS, and tourism, and has the general goal of realising a complete transition to a more high-quality, knowledge intensive economy. Policies and programmes at all levels are focused on some or all of the PiD areas. The 'Innovation Action Programme Groningen' (IAG) is the province's main strategy and programme, and has the aim to contribute to the province's innovative strength. Its focus areas are LS, innovations in health, creative industries, and trans-sector innovation. [1] The IAG is part of a bigger programme, the Northern Netherlands Operational Programme, written within the framework of the European structural funds, and based on the Northern Netherlands Strategic Plan 2007-2013. [2] The main aim is "Transition of the Northern Netherlands' economy to a knowledge-based economy in which development and implementation of innovation and technology goes hand in hand with strengthening of the spatial qualities in the city and country". Priority areas in the Strategic Plan and the Operational Programme (Structural Funds) are as identified in the PiD programme. [3] The city of Groningen's efforts, together with RuG, HUG, and UMCG are focused on energy and healthy ageing, and an additional key area for the NOM (on top of the PiD domains) is SMEs/productivity improvement. [4] Another trend in the North is an increased focus on stimulating and improving collaboration between the Northern Netherlands and the Northern European regions that make up the Northeast Corridor (NEC). To do this, SNN set up the project organisation Nordconnect.

[1] Prov. Groningen (2007) 'IAG 2008-2010' [2] Operationeel Programma Noord-Nederland 2007-2013, Doelstelling 2 'Regionale concurrentiekracht', Europees Fonds Regionale Ontwikkeling (EFRO) [3] Doelstelling 2 'Regionale concurrentiekracht', Europees Fonds Regionale Ontwikkeling (EFRO) [4] Operationeel Programma Noord-Nederland 2007-2013, Annual Report NOM 2009 (Dutch)

Support measure

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Support Measure

Title of measure Bearing North, On the way to ‘Peaks’, Sustainable Growth by transition to a knowledge economy

Full title

Koers Noord, Op weg naar Pieken, Duurzame groei door omschakeling naar een kenniseconomie

Duration

From: 2007 To: 2010 Policy objectives 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies 2.2.3. R&D cooperation 4.3.1. Support to innovative start ups incl Gazelles 2.2.1. TT Support infrastructure

Presentation of the measure

The Bearing North (Koers Noord) programme was initiated by The Northern Netherlands as a reaction to the National Peaks in the Delta Nota (2004) in which the national government called for promoting existing regional strengths and turning them into economic 'peaks' of worldwide recognition. Together with the provinces of Friesland and Drenthe, Groningen is part of the PiD region 'North'. The PiD programme for the North aims at strengthening the (inter)national competitive position of the Northern provinces. It does this by focusing on three pillars: Further development of the regional economic 'Peaks' (Energy, Water, and Sensor Technology); Bringing about a transition in three regionally important sectors (Agribusiness, Life Sciences, Tourism) to more knowledge intensive, innovative applications and the development of niche markets with spin-offs to boost regional employment; and the realisation of a complete transition to more high-quality, knowledge intensive economy. A fourth task, running horizontally across these three pilars, is to boost the Northern Netherlands' sparse economy. Many types of activities are supported by the measure since it is an innovation policy programme, and are different for each of the peaks and other important sectors mentioned in the measure' goals, since each encounter their own challenges. Mainly, projects contributing to the further development of the clusters are supported targeting various groups including research institutes, companies, government, innovation support organisations, etc. This also means that both projects funding companies directly and indirectly canbe supported. An example is Energy Valley (a foundation with over 130 members with the ambition to make the region an internationally renowned energy hub.) The last projects in this programme will be awarded in 2011 via so-called transition funds (transitioning from 'Bearing North' to new programmes). As of 2011, regional innovation policy will be a provincial responsibility instead of a joint national/regional responsibility like it has been under PiD. New policies are under development.

Keywords

Cluster Entrepreneurship Knowledge transfer Budget, source and type of funding Currency: EUR

Source of funding 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 National public funds 38,600,000 20,000,000 20,000,000 20,000,000 21,600,000 Regional public funds EU Structural funds Private funds Other Form of funding provided Grants Policy learning

Extent to which the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning There is evidence of an impact of the measure based on verifiable indicators or an evaluation (e.g. sales generated from new products, jobs created, etc.)

Evaluation report(s)

evaluatie_pid.pdf

Evaluation report links

Pieken in de Delta

Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence

The national PiD programme was evaluated in 2010. The evaluation aimed to investigate the measure's effectiveness, efficiency, and side effects (participation of SMEs and matching of priorities in other, local, measures). Since many projects were not completed at the time of the evaluation, the ability to draw conclusions in terms of effects was limited. In general, the PiD programme seemed to be effective, or at least, on its way towards being effective in the future: Up to Oct. '09 almost €200 mln was used to fund 244 projects; Despite a slow start, it was expected that by the end of 2010 all funds would be allocated (€296 mln); The first short-term effects were already visible: improved cooperation and knowledge sharing between government, institutions and companies, strengthening of the connection between education and labour market, and the development of new products and services. Expectations were high concerning the long-term effects: better trained and qualified staff, the establishment of new companies, and the realisation of high qualitative and competitive products and services; Applicants rate the measure's level of incentive to be very high: they indicated that without the measure, they wither would not have started their projects, or if they would have, it would have been later in time and with less ambition; In general, local governments and others involved were enthusiastic about the measure. It was deemed to reinforce the execution of the provincial and municipal economic policy. The appointed 'peaks' were considered to be recognizable sectors, which already had the regional policy's attention. PiD ensured focus necessary to organise cooperation at the regional level. The measure was considered to be implemented in a correct and efficient manner, with certain improvements made since its start in 2006. The costs of implementation were comparable to costs of implementation of other measures with similar goals and of similar size. SMEs' involvement was ample. Local governments have often matched their regional innovation priorities to the PiD priorities as laid out in the National PiD Nota (2004), but no direct connection was found between local measures and the national PiD measure as such.

Do's and Don'ts

No information on do's and dont's is available.

This measure is recommended as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions: Yes Organisation(s) responsible The Northern Netherlands Provinces

Support measure

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Support Measure

Title of measure Operational Programme Northern Netherlands 2007-2013

Full title

Operationeel Programma Noord-Nederland 2007-2013

Duration

From: 2007 To: 2013 Policy objectives 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies 2.2.3. R&D cooperation 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies 2.3.1. Direct support of business R&D (grants and loans)

Presentation of the measure

The Northern Netherlands' economy is traditionally lagging behind compared to other regions in the Netherlands. During recent years the North has worked hard to strengthen the social economic structure and there is still more to be done to close the gap. The OP North-Netherlands plays a strong role in this. The main aim is "Transition of the Northern Netherlands' economy to a knowledge-based economy in which development and implementation of innovation and technology goes hand in hand with strengthening of the spatial qualities in the city and country". Focus is on realisation of attractive region and attractive cities. For these efforts approximately €370 million are contributed by the Northern Netherlands and €170 million came out of the structural funds. Focus areas are the chemical industry, agribusiness, tourism and metals/shipbuilding, with sustainable development cross-cutting these focus areas. Due to its programmatic approach its target groups are wide ranging and include industry and SMEs in particular,and knowledge institutes. Expected impact in 2015 and targets are: Priority 1 "Innovation, entrepreneurship en knowledge economy" Number of R&D projects: 20 R&D investments - private: € 20 million R&D investments - publc: € 20 million € 20 mln. Number of supported start-ups and small companies: 60 (< 5 years old) Number of supported SMEs: 1.000 Number of partnerships between industry and knowledge/research institutes: 6 Number of created jobs (in FTE): 1.500 Priority 2 Attractive regions Number of projects aimed at improving nature, landscape or cultural heritage: 3 Number of tourism/recreation projects: 6 Number of projects aimed at improving accesibility of the region: 6 Area of modernised business grounds: 150 ha Number of projects aimed at the environment: 3 Number of created jobs (in FTE): 500 Priority 3 Attractive Cities Number of renovated or new city facilities: 5 Area of modernised business grounds: 150 ha Number of created jobs (in FTE): 500

Keywords

Small and medium-sized enterprises Cluster Entrepreneurship Budget, source and type of funding Currency: EUR

Source of 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 funding National public 26,789,285 26,789,285 26,789,285 26,789,285 26,789,285 26,789,285 26,789,285 funds Regional public funds EU Structural 24,200,000 24,200,000 24,200,000 24,200,000 24,200,000 24,200,000 24,200,000 funds Private funds 2,250,714 2,250,714 2,250,714 2,250,714 2,250,714 2,250,714 2,250,714 Other Form of funding provided Grants Policy learning

Extent to which the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning

There is evidence of an impact of the measure based on verifiable indicators or an evaluation (e.g. sales generated from new products, jobs created, etc.)

Evaluation report(s)

ops_nl_ex_ante_evaluation.pdf 43167_bijlagenboek_1_a_noord_240111.pdf

Evaluation report links GO Gebundelde Innovatiekracht

Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence

In the beginning of 2011, a midterm review looked at progress made in terms of the measure's goals, the organisation and operations of the measure, and communication. The following conclusions were drawn by the evaluator: Goals and progress: The measure is well on its way to reach targets in priorities 1 (Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Knowledge economy) and 2 (Attractive Regions). Progress in priority 3 (Attractive cities) is behind schedule for some parts; Dedication of funding towards earmarked Lisbon categories has not reached the 60% target (now at 54%). And since 92% of funds have already been committed, realising the ambition will not be possible without additional funding. It is advised to conduct periodic risk analyses since resources have been committed to a number of relatively large projects. Organisation and operations: Cooperation and harmonisation between provinces (and the four cities) in the Northern Netherlands are advanced. The experience with regional cooperation is also indicated by the way in which the parties deal with regional divisions of resources. Regional partitions exist, but are informal, and not permanent, as a result of which a (mild) incentive exists to submit qualitatively good projects. This is also seen in the common, region-wide, appraisal of projects. Even so, some governance barriers exist: The three provinces are involved in all phases which reinforces involvement of the province at the proposal-stage, but could also lead to an undesirable incentive at the appraisal stage, and it limits the steering possibilities for the Programme Committee. Also, the Programme Committee and Board of Supervisors consist of the same people. Even though this contributes to efficiency, since the committees have two different functions, they should be composed of different people to comply with 'good governance' guidelines. Communication: 'OP-Noord' is more known in the Northern region than the other OPs in the other Dutch regions. Even so, the target set that 30% of target groups should be informed about OP-Noord hasn't been reached. Suggestions made to make the measure more known are to keep investing in the website, invest more in communication via personal contact, increase use of brochures, mailings and newsletters, organise more informational meetings, and invest in media coverage.

Do's and Don'ts

No do's and dont's available.

This measure is recommended as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions:

Yes Organisation(s) responsible The Northern Netherlands Provinces Support measure

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Support Measure

Title of measure Northern Innovation Support Facility

Full title

Noordelijke Innovatie Ondersteuningsfaciliteit

Duration

From: 2000 To: 2012 Policy objectives 2.3.1. Direct support of business R&D (grants and loans) 3.3.2. Recruitment of skilled personnel in enterprises 4.2.1. Support to innovation management and advisory services 4.2.2. Support to organisational innovation incl e-business

Presentation of the measure

The Northern Innovation Support Facility 2010 (Noordelijke Innovatie Ondersteuningsfaciliteit 2010, NIOF 2010) is a measure aimed at reducing innovation barriers for SMEs. The NIOF is one of the measures administered by The Northern Netherlands Provinces to strengthen the region's spatial-sconomic structure. It supports SMEs directly in a variety of innovation projects: 1. External advice projects in which the company gets advice from third parties for development projects (prototyping), strategic marketing plans, market exploration, feasibility studies and company take-overs; 2. Development implementation projects; 3. Hiring of knowlege workers; 4. Participation in international exhibitions. Types of companies that make us of the measure are very diverse in terms of core business and for instance include a lightweight yacht rigging company, a manufacturer of weighing- and packaging equipment, a well engineering & construction business, and a number of companies in the food sector.

Keywords Keywords

Small and medium-sized enterprises Budget, source and type of funding Currency: EUR

Source of funding 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 National public funds Regional public funds 20,500,000 17,200,000 14,300,000 15,800,000 11,400,000 10,700,000 EU Structural funds Private funds Other Form of funding provided Grants Policy learning

Extent to which the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning

The measure has achieved its intended targets in terms of results (e.g. number of enterprises investing in innovative projects, people trained)

Evaluation report(s)

niof_exportbestemmingen.pdf niof_effecten_duitsland.pdf

Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence

Various evidence of the performance of the NIOF measure is available: An assessment was made of the NIOF 2008, its predecessor, as part of the evaluation of a larger programme ("Kompas Noord", Bearing North's predecessor). At midterm a little over 64% of the budget had been committed. The measure was considered easy to use, specifically for financing advise projects, and it had a high level of private co-finance. Due to its success, the NIOF scheme was extended after 2006. In the beginning of 2011, an assessment was made of various outputs of the NIOF 2000 (1000 projects) and NIOF 2008 (224 projects) measures: Countries the companies (plan to) export to: almost all companies (plan to) export to Northern European countries. Half of all companies (plan to) export to Germany, and approximately 15% (plan to) export to Scandinavia; Most companies originate from the industry and trading sectors; Type of project (External advice project: market exploration, External advice project: strategic marketing plan, Development implementation projects, Participation in international exhibitions): Market explorations were conducted to investigate opportunities in all countries. Strategic marketing plans were conducted in most countries (not in Denmark, Lithuainia, Estonia, and Norway). Development projects were conducted only in Sweden, Russia and Germany. Finally, 75% of all participations in international exhibitions took place in Europe (of which 72% in Germany), 15% in Asia (of which most in China), 7% in the USA, and 3% in South America. Since Germany was the focus of the majority of the NIOF projects, the effects of NIOF 2008 and NIOF 2010 grants in these projects was investigated in the beginning of 2011. Outcomes of this study (based on cooperation of 22 of the 68 companies) were: 30% of respondents indicated that the grant led to increased turnover; 40% expect it to lead to increased turnover in the near future; of these respondents, 33% expect a 5% increase, 17% expect a 10% increase, and 33% expect a 20% increase in turnover. The rest doesn't know which percentage to expect; 18% of respondents indicated that the grant led to increase employment (FTE) in the company. 41% indicated it hasn't yet, but expects it to, and 41% indicated it will not; all companies have indicated that the grant has lead to (planned) follow-up actions.

Do's and Don'ts

No information on do's and dont's are available.

This measure is recommended as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions:

Yes Organisation(s) responsible The Northern Netherlands Provinces

Support measure

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Support Measure

Title of measure Groningen Tourism Subsidy Scheme 2009-2012 (STINAG)

Full title

Subsidieregeling Toerisme Natuurlijk Groningen 2009-2012 (STINAG)

Duration

From: 2009 To: 2012 Policy objectives 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies

Presentation of the measure A great deal of the Province of Groningen consists of rural and recreational area. Opportunities in the field of tourism and recreation are found to be insufficiently exploited. Stimulation of further developments of tourism and recreation in Groningen is to lead to more spending, boosting employment, and improved livability in rural areas. To achieve these goals, the Province of Groningen introduced the STINAG scheme. This scheme helps recreational entrepreneurs to implement their plans. The regulation supports advisory projects, in which expertise in the field of nature, landscape and architecture is made more easily accessible. Also, strategic investments in the field of (economic) quality improvement, innovation, nature and landscape development, fitting in of the landscape, architecture, and sustainability are supported by the scheme (quality improvement project). The target group is SMEs in the tourism sector (which has been defined as one of the North's key areas in the leading regional innovation strategies).

Keywords

Small and medium-sized enterprises Budget, source and type of funding Currency: EUR

Source of funding 2009 2010 2011 National public funds Regional public funds 1,700,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 EU Structural funds Private funds Other Form of funding provided Grants Policy learning

Extent to which the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning

It is too early to judge the success of the measure (e.g results of first call for proposals still not known).

Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence

No evaluation has yet taken place, it is too early to determine success and failure factors.

Do's and Don'ts

No evaluation has yet taken place, it is too early to determine do's and don'ts.

This measure is recommended as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions: Yes Organisation(s) responsible The Northern Netherlands Provinces

Support measure

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Support Measure

Title of measure Innovative Action Programme Groningen 2008-2010 (IAG)

Full title

Innovatief Actieprogramma Groningen 2008-2010 (IAG)

Duration

From: 2008 To: 2010 Policy objectives 1.3.1. Cluster framework policies 2.2.3. R&D cooperation 1.3.3. Other horizontal policies 1.2.2. Innovation strategies

Presentation of the measure

The IAG 08-10 is a follow-up of the IAG 05-07 that was established with direct support of the European Commission. Direct support by the European Commission for this type of activity was discontinued after 2006, however the Province of Groningen felt that a follow-up of the IAG was warrented since the IAG 05-07 had lead to initiatives that needed follow-up after 2007, and they favoured the programmatic and efficient approach that characterised the IAG 05-07. The IAG aims at strengthening the province's innovativeness by supporting high risk projects in the key areas Life Sciences, Innovations in Health, Creative Industries, and Trans-sector Innovation. Its overall targets for 2012 are: number of R&D projects: 15 private R&D investements: €m 0.5 public R&D investements: €m 1 number of supported SMEs: 60 number of science-industry partnerships: 15 number of created jobs: 40 FTE As with other programmatic measures, the aims and targets, and types of activities and target groups supported for each key area varies according to specific challenges encountered by each area.

Keywords

Science-industry cooperation Start-ups/spin-offs Cluster Budget, source and type of funding Currency: EUR

Source of funding 2008 2009 2010 National public funds Regional public funds 500,000 500,000 500,000 EU Structural funds 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 Private funds 500,000 500,000 500,000 Other Form of funding provided Grants Policy learning

Extent to which the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning

There has been a positive response by beneficiaries to the measure (e.g. over-subscribed in terms of requested versus available budget) but it is too early to judge results or impact

Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence

No evaluation has been conducted yet and outcomes and impacts of the IAG 2008-2010 in this sense have not yet been determined. However, it has come to attention that a year after the start of IAG 2008-2010, 95% of all funding had already been granted illustrating the popularity of the scheme. The measure has been considered at least successful enough to provide a basis for continuation of IAG 2 in IAG 3, which is currently under development.

Do's and Don'ts

No evaluation has been conducted yet and do's and dont's of the IAG 2008-2010 in this sense have not yet been determined. However, the reason to launch the IAG 2008-2010 is due to certain succes factors of the previous IAG (2005-2007). Benefits mentioned are that an Innovation Action Programme - from its regional innovation strategy - gives the opportunity to select projects on a programmatic basis and to connect government, intermediairies, and industry at both programme as well as project levels. Moreover, an Innovation Action Programme has a unique position, making use of a small programme organisation which is characterised by efficiency, committment, and deciciveness.

This measure is recommended as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions:

Yes Organisation(s) responsible Province of Groningen

Policy document

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Policy Document

Coalition agreement Province of Groningen 2011-2015 Energiek en scherp aan de wind: op naar een ondernemend, duurzaam en sociaal Groningen! Coalitieakkoord van PvdA, VVD, D66 en GroenLinks provincie Groningen 2011-2015

Organisation responsible

Province of Groningen Content

After the March 2011 elections a new coalition took over the Groningen government. Their intended policies are laid down in the coalition agreement, with innovation policy being part of the economic policy. Spearhead sectors are Energy, Life Sciences/Healthy Ageing, and Biobased Economy. The province will focus on stimulating sustainability and innovation in agriculture and the energy sector, and 'green' innovations in industry. Knowledge valorisation towards the business sector and education are also targeted. Another important aim is to attract (foreign) companies to the province.

Year of publication

2011

Link to website

Link: http://www.provinciegroningen.nl/actueel/nieuws/nieuwsberich ...

Policy document

NEDERLAND NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Policy Document

Innovative Action Programme Groningen 2008-2010 Strategische agenda voor Noord-Nederland 2007-2013 Visie in ontwikkeling van Drenthe, Fryslân en Groningen in het Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland

Organisation responsible

The Northern Netherlands Provinces Content

This strategic agenda presents the policy choices of the three northern provinces in terms of spatial economy, living and working environment, and the development of the rural areas. Leading in the strategic plan is The Northern Netherlands' commitment to a dynamic knowledge-based economy, strong cities and a vital country side. The main choices are: strengthening the economy by concentration of living and working in the economic core zones; space for (large-scale) agriculture and conservation of natural, landscape and environmental values; strengthening of the spatial-economic structure along the Northeeast Corridor. To accomplish these goals an integrated and programmatic approach is chosen. Focus areas are energy, water, sensor technology, agribusiness, life sciences, ICT, maritime, and tourism.

Year of publication

2005

Link to website

Link: http://snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID ...

Policy document

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11 Policy Document

The Agreement of Groningen 2.0, Investing in knowledge and innovation together Het Akkoord van Groningen 2.0, Samen investeren in kennis en innovatie

Organisation responsible

Municipality of Groningen Content

The Agreement of Groningen presents the basis for a strategic alliance between the Municipality of Groningen, the University of Groningen, Hanze University Groningen, and the University Medical Centre Groningen. The aim of their alliance is to further develop Groningen's position into being the North's internationally recognised knowledge and innovation hub. Their goals are to make a significant contribution to solving societal problems, increase the number of high-level jobs, and to become an internationally recognised and competitive region. Focus areas in the strategy are Energy and Healthy Ageing, topics in which the North has built up a relatively strong knowledge position. These clusters are also seen as promising areas for cross-border collaboration. Due to this, Groningen is investing in developing knowledge in these themes for the long term. The Groningen Agreement aims at making the energy hub one of the leading energy knowledge centres of the world by investigating key energy issues and developing a human resource base in the field. In the area of ageing it has coordinated its efforts in the Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands (HANNN).

Year of publication

2009

Link to website

Link: http://gemeente.groningen.nl/onderwijs-en-studeren/groningen ...

Organisation

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Organisation

Province of Groningen Provincie Groningen Link: www.provinciegroningen.nl Martinikerkhof 12 Groningen , 9712 JG Mission Starting from its responsibility, the Province of Groningen stands for a livable environment and sound economic growth in the province by cooperating with parties in and outside of the province, by being focused on the client, by being customer-oriented, and by ensuring it has a stimulating and an open working environment for all employees. Activities The main role of Dutch provinces is organisation of spatial development (in economic domain, e.g. development of industrial estates). Provinces have no formal role in industrial, research, or higher education policy. However, they are a player in the Dutch consensus oriented consultative culture and provinces see their limited role as instrumental for broader regional goals. In terms of innovation, the majority of the Province of Groningen's activities are conducetd in cooperation with the Provinces of Friesland and Drenthe in 'The Northern Netherlands Provinces' (please see "Northern Netherlands Provinces" for more information on this organisation). In addition to this, Groningen does have its own independent 'Innovative Action Programme Groningen'. The new national government (since 2010) is withdrawing from regional economic policy. This means that regional economic and industrial policy is added to the existing responsibilities of the provinces (spatial development including e.g. road infrastructure and development of industrial estates). What this means in practice is however not yet clear at the moment (July 2011).

Organisation

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Organisation

NOM, Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands N.V. NOM, Investerings- en Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij voor Noord-Nederland Link: www.nvnom.eu Paterswoldseweg 810 Groningen , 9728 BM Mission NOM is an independent company which aims to develop employment in the Northern Netherlands by stimulating sustainable profitable economic activities. Four elements lie at the core of this mission: 1. An independent company: The shareholders and policymakers who grant subsidies indicate the terms within which the NOM carries out its tasks. A Board composed of independent and qualified members, develops the NOM's strategy and checks the NOM. 2. Developing and stimulating employment: The NOM aims to increase employment in the Northern Netherlands. 3. The Northern Netherlands: The NOM mainly aims at assisting companies in or coming to the Northern Netherlands. 4. Stimulating sustainable, profitable activities: The NOM focuses on sustainable entrepreneurship and economic activities which are preferably innovative and have the potential to have impact outside of the Northern region. Activities The NOM's main activities are: 1. Investment Development: The NOM is active in attracting investment to the Northern Netherlands as well as stimulating new ideas in existing Northern Netherlands companies. The staff visit companies to scout new investment opportunities and foreign representation passes through any interested foreign investors. 2. Development & Innovation: The NOM assists companies with business development activities. Often, day-to-day tasks take priority, especially in smaller businesses. NOM guides companies' ideas from idea to implementation. 3. Finance: The NOM provides entrepreneurs with financial capital and coaching and advise to help them implement new ideas.

Organisation

NEDERLAND NOORD-NEDERLAND Region Groningen NUTS Code NL11

Organisation

The Northern Netherlands Provinces Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland Link: http://snn.eu/sjablonen/1/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=773 Martinikerkhof 12 Groningen , 9712 JG Mission Since 1992 the provinces of Groningen, Fryslân and Drenthe have combined their administrative resources in the Northern Netherlands Provinces. In an SNN framework the North pursues joint policies and negotiates with the government on matters which concern the North as a whole. Its mission is to strengthen the spatial planning and economic structure of the Northern Netherlands. Activities The SNN provides a framework for acting in the best interest of the three provinces at both a national and a European level. In an SNN framework the North pursues joint policies and negotiates with the national and EU government on matters that concern the North as a whole. The SNN plays a coordinating and stimulating role in the development of projects, financed through co-funding. In 1993, the central government transferred the implementation of tasks to do with regional and economic development to the SNN. During the period 2000-2006, a large part of the Northern Netherlands has become an Objective 2 area within the framework of the European structural funds. After a period of seven years of cooperation it is clear that the environmental and economic activities are the most effective. In addition, the provinces of Drenthe, Groningen, Fryslân and Overijssel have been working together since 1991 with the German Federal States of Lower Saxony and Bremen within the 'New Hanseatic Interregion'. Since 1996, the three SNN provinces have participated in the greater, regional cooperative pacts of the North Sea Commission and the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR). The Northern Netherlands is putting its money on promising, innovative sectors such as water technology, energy, agrobusiness and life sciences.

Appendix D Statistical data

Groningen Groningen Groningen Indicator (NL11) (NL11) (NL11) EU27 2000 or Most around Previous year Most recent recent GDP per capita (PPP) 28700 41100 49700 25100 2000 2007 2008 2008 Change in GDP per capita 6.35 6.75 10.96 3.73 2000-03 2006-07 2005-08 2005-08 Unemployment rate 4.025 3.85 3.825 6.98 2000-03 2006-09 2007-10 2007-10 Change in unemployment rate -1.08 0.53 0.03 -0.30 2000-03 2006-09 2007-10 2007-10 Tertiary education 0.30 0.35 0.38 0.30 2000 2009 2010 2010 Government R&D expenditure 0.02 N/A 0.08 0.24 2000 0 2008 Non-R&D innovation exp. N/A N/A N/A 0.41 N/A 2006 Patents per million population 77.8 63.5 85.3 115.1 2000 2005 2006 2006 Business R&D expenditure 0.37 0.14 0.14 1.21 2001 2007 2007 2008 Higher education R&D expenditure 1.20 N/A 1.10 0.44 2000 0 2008 Source: Eurostat and Community Innovation Survey.

Regional Innovation Monitor 31

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