The proposed project seeks to support the development of interconnected innovation ecosystems across the EU with a starting point in three focus regions; the Greater Copenhagen region, Flanders and Northern Portugal. To this end, the partners will apply the S3-Innovation Model for development of Transformational Actions towards a circular economy, specifically focusing on actions for Reducing, Reusing and Rethinking resources within three sectors; plastics, textiles and construction. This methodology will be employed to map and analyse regional capacities and potentials for transformation through the involvement of quadruple helix focus groups to include priorities from different actors in the innovation ecosystems. Based on these mappings, the partners will identify cross-regional actions with potential to drive circular transformation across European innovation ecosystems. To enable concrete collaborations, the partners will develop one joint cross-regional action plan for collaborative actions in each of the three focus sectors, particularly focusing on actions for ‘reusing’, ‘reducing' and ‘rethinking’ resources. To prepare the ground for future implementation of the joint action plans, the partners will focus heavily on dissemination across EU territories and capacity building for ecosystem stakeholders. Moerover, the consortium will establish dedicated virtual collaboration spaces and communities on an already existing virtual platform to convene ecosystem stakeholders around project activities concerning circularity within plastics, textiles and construction. Upon the post-project implementation of the action plans, the proposed project is expected to contribute to increased market uptake and adoption of innovative solutions through concrete actions for connecting innovators to public buyers. Moreover, the project is expected to facilitate an infrastructure which enables closer connections between research institutions and innovators.

Today’s urgent challenges are inherently complex and systemic and will not be solved by individual actors or territories in isolation. To foster enabling innovation ecosystems across the EU, a systemic approach that is inclusive and collaborative is required. Diverse actors from separate regions ensure an equitable diffusion of benefits and maximise the value of innovation for all. This project aligns with EIE’s aims to create more connected, inclusive and efficient innovation ecosystems that support the scaling of companies and spur innovation to address important challenges in a responsible way. Previous projects and collaboration (i.e. WST, S3P) are used as the foundation for this further development. Proposal topics The project will focus on digitalisation within water-heavy sectors as an enabler to create a water smart society. Concept The project will take a threefold approach to driving cross-regional innovation with the water-smart focus area. These are: 1) Prioritisation of key innovation areas Regionally, the project will generate a base of qualitative and quantitative data on existing capacities, gained from partners' experience and knowledge, and through engagement of quadruple-helix stakeholders. This process will drive the identification of innovation priority areas regionally. 2) Cross-regional actions Through cross-regional workshops, key innovation areas and gaps will be identified with a focus on formulating cross-regional action plans that generate a pipeline of specific ideas / concepts for future projects. The workshops will analyse gaps in the competences of each of the regions to foster cross-regional collaboration. 3) Idea generation and partner matching Based on the cross-regional workshops, the partners will select / match key innovation ideas and stakeholders through workshops, webinars, and digital co-creation. The focus will be to develop a pipeline of concepts for future collaboration ( E.g. EUREKA, Water4All, Horizon Europe)

R-Aces means a step-change in the contribution of European Industry to the climate targets of the EU. The sector after all represents 25% of all energy demand – and 50% of all cooling and heating - on the continent; yet only 16% comes from renewables. By focusing on collective measures and clustering, the efficiency of industry can be drastically increased. The focus of R-Aces therefore is to turn high-potential, high-impact industrial clusters into Ecoregions that achieve at least a 10% reduction in emissions. An Ecoregion is an area where energy, material and information exchanges occur between various companies and actors to reduce waste and energy/material consumption. Each region is centered on an (eco-)industrial park or (eco-)business park, linked to its surroundings by a 4th/5th generation district heating/cooling network. The consortium sees this project as a capping stone, condensing the knowledge and experience gathered throughout H2020 into a set of three focused tools embedded in selected support actions. The tools consist of an assessment tool; legal decision support for joint contracts; and a smart energy management platform for clusters. The support actions are built around peer-to-peer learning, more formal coursework and serious games. Together they enable a cluster to really become an EcoRegion and set up meaningful energy collaboration. The entire package of tools and support is aimed at the high-potential clusters identified in the European Thermal Roadmap. It will be validated in three of them (all are part of the consortium); actively deployed in another seven; and disseminated to ninety of them. In addition, the tools and support methodology will be made available to third parties in a sustainable way after the end of this two-year project. The project consortium consists of the entire value chain needed for energy collaboration – suppliers, ESCO, cluster managers, support – and represents many years of proven experience in this field.

Value-added Innovation in fooD chAins (VIDA) will nurture and harness the growth and innovation potential of SMEs working across European food c hains, bringing together four complementary and mutually dependant sectors; food, energy, water and key enabling technologies (KET). VIDA will strengthen current and develop new cross-sectoral industrial value chains within the food production and processing industries through a combination of direct and indirect innovation actions, as well as support and capacity building measures. These will include open-innovation and virtual collaboration tools, mentoring and knowledge-sharing activities and a 'twin-track' innovation voucher scheme which will support the realisation of high-TRL, large-scale, demonstration and commercialisation projects across Europe. We will effect change among more than 6200 organisations, primarily SMEs. VIDA combines expertise from four complementary European Strategic Cluster Partnerships (ESCPs): FoodPackLab, EU4Food, Energy in Water and AdPack, with a direct reach of over 700 SMEs across the partner clusters (and 2100 SMEs across the collaborating ESCPs). The collaborating partners have been carefully selected to ensure a complementary balance of geographies, knowledge, experience and expertise within VIDA's four sectors, and maximise the potential for cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary exchanges to create new industrial value chains. VIDA will operate for 3.5 years with a total budget of €5,031,141.25. VIDA will allocate more that 81% of the total project budget for innovation in SMEs. €3,355,000 of the budget will be used to provide specialist innovation vouchers, and catalyse large-scale demonstrations with commercialisation innovation projects, involving >100 beneficiaries.