PREPARE’s project is beginning to yield results.
The PREPARE project is an EU funded joint initiative led in the region of Murcia by Ticbiomed and Instituto de Fomento de la Region de Murcia. The project is coordinated by Ticbiomed and counts with strategic partners from Skåne (Sweden), Oulu (Finland), and Bucharest (Romania) is starting to bear fruit after the first months of collaboration.
Since its inception in January 2024, the partners have been working to identify opportunities, challenges and solutions in the field of innovation uptake in each of these four regions.
In the Region of Murcia, both Ticbiomed and INFO have conducted different activities to involve relevant organisations from the Regional Innovation Ecosystem. 29 interviews have been performed so far to key regional stakeholders learn more about the needs of the business community, as well as the possibilities and requirements of the institutional and administrative organisations related to the procurement of innovation
Also, in order to share and validate the main insights extracted with the interested parties, the Instituto de Fomento and Ticbiomed have organised two events for this month of May:
- 14th May: Working Coffee to validate with policymakers the information collected so far, and to be able to extract conclusions
- 28th May: Collaboration Workshop to share the main findings with the regional stakeholders and discuss the common expectations that should be considered when drafting the regional Action Plan to facilitate the adoption of innovation at regional level and to give more
Recommendations for the future
The findings from the PREPARE Project so far point to several areas where targeted action could significantly enhance the innovation ecosystem in Murcia region and stimulate innovation procurement:
- Promote public administration training programmes: The overlapping of competencies within the public administration concerning various grant lines and InnPr dossiers highlights the urgent need to improve staff training. Such training is essential to clarify roles and responsibilities, thereby avoiding possible misunderstandings and ensuring effective management. Furthermore, the lack of accountability identified in InnPr’s legislative development underlines the critical need for in-depth training to encourage greater staff involvement and reduce existing knowledge gaps.
- Empower the ecosystem: The innovation ecosystem is very diluted, and capabilities are not well known. In the Region of Murcia, the different centres act independently, replicating to some extent the guilds that existed 50 years ago, a model that, although it worked very well, does not fit the needs of the region today. There is a need for greater transversality in these services to support and promote innovation. According to some of the companies interviewed in the workshops, there is a need for a centre that channels, groups and centralises regional knowledge, as capacities should be centralised in order to maximise them, not to disintegrate them.
In conclusion, the interaction with innovation procurement stakeholders have has provided valuable insights into the state of innovation in the Murcia region. By addressing the identified challenges and capitalizing on the region’s strengths, there is a strong potential to enhance innovation procurement and drive economic and social development.
