Research and innovation

• Response to the "Europe 2020" strategy
• Developing research, development and innovation through cross-border cooperation
• Links with EU Cohesion Policy
• Forms of cooperation and examples of projects
• Recommendations

Developing research, development and innovation through cross-border cooperation

In terms of research and innovation, existing strategies for public action were sometimes defined by in a national context, which does not fit into a cross-border approach. However, at the regional and local levels, border areas reveal complementarities possible between two economic environments situated on either side of the border (synergies residing in the networking of the best elements from each side of the border, mutual enrichment of different scientific cultures, complementarity of specialities among research laboratories). These complementarities are also an opportunity to realise economies of scale (mutualisation of research costs), or even common marketing, promoting innovations and skills developed together (example of the Franco-Germano-Swiss trinational cluster, BioValley), while being sufficiently large to be visible in international competition, (example of the France-Belgium-Luxembourg trinational cluster, Intermat). Cross-border cooperation thus allows a significant added value to traditional approaches for research and innovation in border regions.

Photo copyright: European Community 2005