Representatives of partners of the project OISAIR- Establishment the Open Innovation System of the Adriatic Ionian Region signed on June 7th in Ljubljana a Collaboration Agreement that formalize the establishment of the OIS-AIR Network, a unique marketplace aimed at improving the innovation capacity and cooperation among research infrastructures and businesses, and boosting economic growth and competitiveness in the Adriatic Ionian Region.
The Network is composed by 7 Innovation Centers located in six countries: Italy (2 centres), Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Greece and Albania and its supported by the OIS-AIR INNOVAIR Platform, a virtual innovation marketplace that offers free-of-charge innovation services to businesses and promotes the establishment of R2B collaborations and funding opportunities in the Adriatic Ionian Region.
– Following the signature of the agreement, the Network starts its activities aiming at develop a competitive and attractive transregional innovation system. Services target transfer of knowledge, B2B and B2R cooperation and matchmaking, fast prototyping assistance and mentorship and other services needed for improving innovation capacities and cooperation between RIs and SMEs beyond borders. This way, OISAIR Hub is determined to become a reference tool for collaboration in the field of innovation in the whole program area – said Cerar Matej, director of Technology park Ljubljana, one of the project partners.
By registering to the INNOVAIR Platform, research institutions and companies may publish research results, technology needs and search for partnership opportunities.
Supporting this kind of collaboration, the OIS-AIR Network provide financing support to the best innovative projects to be jointly developed by research institutes and SMEs in Adriatic Ionian Region. Through the OIS-AIR Proof of Concept Call (PoC Call), OISAIR is already supporting the realization of 10 co-development projects in the field of Transport & Mobility, Energy & Environment, Agro-Bioeconomy, by means of innovation vouchers worth 18.500 EUR each.
In order to apply, both research institutes and SMEs must be registered at INNOVAIR Platform that is meant to support interaction among companies, entrepreneurs, businesses and researches at Adriatic Ionian Region.
The OISAIR Network has a flexible design and it’s open to new stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem in the Adriatic – Ionian Region, active actors in the fields of research and technology such as: innovation agencies, technology parks, public and private research institutions, universities, business support organization, incubators and accelerators, and similar.
About OIS-AIR project
The OIS-AIR -Establishment of the Open Innovation System of the Adriatic-Ionian Region- project is financed by Interreg Adrion EU Programme. Its goal is to establish a single marketplace for technology and innovation, competitive and attractive at macro-regional level, involving relevant stakeholders from different sectors in Adriatic-Ionian Region, from research institutions to SMEs and public administration. Partners involved in project are: AREA Science Park Trieste, Italy, Technology Park Ljubljana, Slovenia, Croatian Chamber of Economy, Croatia, Science Technology Park Belgrade, Serbia, Center for Research and Technology Hellas, from Greece, University of Basi