21 January 2016
Mikel Navarro, researcher at Orkestra and Professor at the University of Deusto, has participated in the Social and Business Forum on smart specialisation strategies organised by the Public University of Navarre (UPNA). During the session he spoke about the development of smart specialisation in Navarre, topic on which he started working in 2014 with the collaboration of the recently closed Fundación Moderna.
Navarro also pointed out that work should continue to be made on the foundations already laid, while improving the strengths of the plan. During his presentation he highlighted that, although Navarre is well positioned in R&D, “it is necessary to support non-technological innovation, related to organisational and commercial questions as well as knowledge-intensive services so that the industry in Navarre can compete in the international market”.
Furthermore, he praised the capacities of the Public University of Navarre and the University of Navarre, in the application of RIS3 strategies “both in the design and the implication (in processes of entrepreneurial discovery) together with firms and in the plan’s evaluation systems”, and added that “for this the incentives and governance in the university must change”.
As well as Mikel Navarro, the session included presentations by Susana Elena Pérez, from the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), research centre of the European Commission that supports RIS3 strategies, who gave a panoramic view of the University in the RIS3 strategies in Europe; and Manu Ayerdi, vice president of Economic Development of the region, who announced, among other aspects, the creation of a substitutive platform for the Fundación Moderna. According to Manu, this new foundation will support the strategic reflection and will seek the participation of the main economic and social agents of Navarre.
