On October 9th, HealthChain has highlighted its role in interregional collaboration during the European Week of Regions and Cities taking place in Brussels, with a dedicated session titled “Interregional Innovation Investments to Boost Citizen Health and Well-being.” The event attracted 100 stakeholders from across Europe and offered a platform to discuss how interregional cooperation and investment can drive improvements in healthcare and enhance citizen well-being across Europe.
The event brought together key health-related projects funded by the I3 instrument—HealthChain, I3-INSHAPE, and DIGIT-PRE—with the goal of sharing their experiences and inspiring other European regions to engage in interregional cooperation for innovation. The session covered best practices for creating new interregional value chains in health, as well as identifying common roadblocks and ways to overcome them.
The session was moderated by Myriam Martin, HealthChain’s project coordinator, and featured valuable insights from Alenka Rozaj (HealthChain), Aldo Vermiglio and Malin Larsson (DIGIT-PRE), as well as Marc van der Zande (I3-INSHAPE).
The session concluded with several important takeaways that can guide future interregional health collaborations:
- Knowledge Transfer & Capacity Building: There is a strong need for knowledge transfer on cohesion policies and building capacity within regions, being the Regional Innovation valleys a very valuable initiative among others
- Efficient Funding: It’s crucial to complement regional funding instruments and involve Managing Authorities to use European Regional Funds (ERF) for example,for internationalization.
- Sustaining Innovation: It’s worth to explore new support mechanisms to maintain momentum and reinforce existing networks and to ensure the long-term success of innovation systems developed under I3 projects, a Cross-Border Value Chains: Close collaboration between neighboring regions should be encouraged to foster cross-border value chains, with a focus on identifying added value and clear scale-up strategies while strengthening the intraregional ecosystems..
Project-Specific Insights
- DIGIT-PRE emphasized the importance of supporting SMEs hands-on, tackling real challenges, and ensuring that processes continue even after the project’s conclusion.
- I3-INSHAPE highlighted the clear value of interregional collaboration focused on mature, SME-driven innovations but stressed the need for a long-term approach to sustain the momentum beyond the project’s lifecycle.
- HealthChain acknowledged the challenge of maintaining momentum with its 36 partners. The project will need additional funding and support from policymakers at the regional level to keep the process moving forward, ensuring that the innovation systems established during the project can continue to benefit the regions.
The session highlighted the critical role that interregional collaboration plays in fostering innovation and improving healthcare outcomes. By continuing to build strong partnerships and investing in the sustainability of these initiatives, Europe can create lasting improvements in citizen health and well-being.
