XIV All-Russian Forum «Strategic Planning in the Regions and Cities of Russia» 19 October 2015, St Petersburg, Russian Federation presentation by William Tompson, Senior Counsellor, OECD Regional Development Policy Division.

1. REGIONS AND
INNOVATION:
COLLABORATING ACROSS
BORDERS
XIV All-Russian Forum
«Strategic Planning in the Regions and Cities of Russia»
St Petersburg, 19 October 2015
Bill Tompson, Senior Counsellor & Deputy Head
Regional Development Policy Division
william.tompson@oecd.org

2. Innovation trends call for
international collaboration
strategies
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 219 Oct 2015

3. Innovation-related collaboration increasingly global
International scientific co-
publications tripling from
7% to 22% over 20 years.
The share of regional co-
patents with foreign
inventors has doubled from
10% to 20% over 30 years.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
Thousands
International
co-authorship
Single-institution
co-authorship
Domestic
co-authorship
Single author
Source: OECD (2010), Measuring Innovation: A New Perspective, OECD Publishing,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264059474-en.
International scientific production
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 319 Oct 2015

4. Global value chains intensifying
Foreign value-added content of exports by country
As a percent of total exports 1995 and 2009
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum
OECD-WTO: Statistics on Trade in Value Added, (database), doi: 10.1787/data-00648-en
419 Oct 2015

5. Location
of co-
patenting
partner
But proximity still plays an important role in
collaboration
Over 33% of R&D in the top 10% of large regions; 58% of patents
in the top 10% of small regions
Spatial decay (150-200 km); neighbourhood effects; “cost” of the
border increasing over time
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum
Source: OECD (2013),
OECD Regions at a Glance,
OECD Publishing,.
519 Oct 2015

6. OECD (2011) Regions and Innovation Policy, OECD Publishing, Paris based on Benneworth, P. and A. Dassen (2012), Strengthening Global-
Regional Connectivity in Regional Innovation Strategies, Regional Development Working Papers, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Internal and international innovation
system linkages to influence strategy
Internationallinkages
Type of regional innovation system (RIS)
619 Oct 2015 St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum

7. Innovation policy to consider actors
operating at different geographic scales
Geographic scales
• Cross-border co-operation
(contiguous areas)
• Trans-national
co-operation
• (macro-regions)
• Inter-regional co-operation
(internationally)
Actors
• SME collaboration more
localised than large firms
• Different university
orientations: global,
national and regional
• Co-location more important
for market-oriented
research impacts, inter-
regional networks for
scientific research (Attila et
al, 2012)
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 719 Oct 2015

8. Evidence from recent OECD cross-
border study
When, why and how to promote
cross-border innovation policy
1. TTR-ELAt Region (Belgium,
Netherlands, Germany)
2. Helsinki-Tallinn (Finland,
Estonia)
3. Hedmark-Dalarna (Norway,
Sweden)
4. Bothnian Arc (Sweden,
Finland)
5. Ireland-Northern Ireland
(Ireland, UK)
6. Oresund (Denmark, Sweden)19 Oct 2015 St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 8

9. Innovating beyond borders:
Why and when to collaborate cross-border
Acting beyond borders • Innovation does not stop at the border
Borders as bridges
Borders
as opportunities
Defining the functional
area
Checking for the right
conditions
• Openness cross-border goes hand-in-hand with better
integration and competitiveness in global networks
• Benefit from proximity, critical mass, complementarity
expertise, greater international attractiveness, etc.
• Data reveal the innovation-relevant “functional” region ≠
administrative region, resulting in variable geometry
• Checklist of ten conditions for a more or less favourable
environment for cross-border regional innovation policy
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 919 Oct 2015

10. Defining a “functional” cross-border area for
innovation support (can differ by function, technology)
High-tech systems Life sciences
Source: Competitiveness Indices: BAK Basel Economics, 2012
Mapping of technological competencies in the
Top Technology Region/ Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 1019 Oct 2015

11. Ten conditions favourable to
cross-border collaboration for innovation
Framework conditions
1. Geographic accessibility
2. Socio-cultural proximity
3. Institutional context conditions
4. Cross-border integration
Innovation system conditions
5. Economic specialisation
6. Business innovation model
7. Knowledge infrastructure
8. Innovation system interactions
Governance and policy context
9. Governance
10. Policy mix
Source: OECD (2013); inspired and adapted from Trippl (2009)
Several of these
considerations are relevant
for trans-national and inter-
regional collaboration
efforts
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 1119 Oct 2015

12. Governing cross-border collaboration:
Public and private engagement
Raise public interest at
different government levels
• Each level of government (local, regional, national and
even supra-national) has a role to play
Identify overarching vision
Demonstrate mutual
benefit
Governance beyond
government
Private sector
engagement
• Need a common purpose to unify different actions
• Each side of the border will make its own assessment
of the costs and benefits, and its share of these
• Use top-down and bottom-up levers, formal and informal
governance that contribute to long-term relationships of
trust
• Ensure the private sector takes a sufficiently prominent
role
in promoting the cross-border area
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 1219 Oct 2015

13. Many innovation instruments used cross-border
Some used on macro-regional / transnational basis
Strategy and policy development R&D support
Analytical exercises and mappings (mapping of
clusters or value chains, technology foresight
exercises)
Joint public research programmes
Benchmarking and policy learning Joint research infrastructure, shared access to
research facilities
Joint branding of the cross-border area Cross-border private R&D funding programmes
(generic and thematic)
Technology transfer and innovation support Educated and skilled workers
Cross-border innovation advisory services
(vouchers, intermediaries)
Scholarships/student exchanges
Advisory services to spin-off and
knowledge-intensive start-ups
Joint university or other higher education
programmes
Other technology transfer centres and extension
programmes
Talent attraction and retention or mobility schemes
Cross-border labour market measures
Science and technology parks and
innovation networks
Other instruments
Cross-border science and technology parks Financing (venture capital funds or angel networks)
Cluster or network initiatives Public procurement/ border as a source of
innovation/ innovation awardsSt Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 1319 Oct 2015

14. Ease of using cross-border instruments
(Based on case study examples)
Easiest to implement
Attempts to allow funds from
one country go to another
(rare exceptions)
Certain innovation projects in
highly regulated sectors
(health, energy)
• Albeit often those areas
have greatest potential for
using border as source of
innovation
International branding efforts
often caught up in political
sensibilities
Mixed results Most challenges observed
Cross-border linkages of firms
with providers (e.g., innovation
vouchers)
Cluster-related support for
areas of common
competencies
Joint prioritised research
Access to shared S&T parks,
scientific installations, joint
centres
Broad-based university
collaborations
• researchers look for
excellence over proximity
• students need right
framework conditions
(diploma recognition,
financing, etc.)
Firm networking and
matchmaking; leading to
collaboration?
Cross-border cluster initiatives
19 Oct 2015 St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 14

15. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION.
St Petersburg, XIV All-Russian Forum 1519 Oct 2015