IRE Award for Best European Innovation Scheme

IRE Award for Best European Regional Innovation Scheme

The IRE Award for Best European Regional Innovation Scheme is an initiative to distinguish successful measures related to regional innovation policies developed and implemented by European regions.

A regional innovation scheme is defined as a clear and identifiable set of actions that are implemented to promote innovation in the regions and to enhance the performance of regional innovation systems.

The objectives of the IRE Award are twofold:

• To identify and disseminate successful innovation policy measures implemented by European regions.
• To raise awareness among political decision makers at regional level and to stimulate an exchange of knowledge in the field of regional innovation.

Participation and evaluation

The application process for the IRE Award 2007 was open to all European regions wishing to gain recognition and visibility for their successful efforts to promote regional innovation. A total of 23 applications were received.

An independent evaluation panel consisting of a representative of the European Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry, two representatives of the IRE Steering Group and a representative of the IRE Secretariat, selected four Award nominees as well as the Award winner. The main assessment criteria were:

• Results achieved and impact on the region
• Innovative character
• Future prospects including sustainability
• Potential adaptability and transferability to other regional contexts

The IRE Award winner

Four regional innovation schemes were nominated for the first IRE Award:

• Centres for Industrial Collaboration - Yorkshire and Humber (UK)
• Research/knowledge vouchers - Limburg (NL)
• Sistema Madri+d - Madrid (ES)
• Regional tourism development strategy - Balearic Islands (ES)

The four nominees were invited to attend the Award Ceremony, which took place at the occasion of the 5th IRE Plenary Conference on 24-25 May 2007 in Ireland. The Award was presented by Ms Françoise Le Bail, Deputy Director-General of DG Enterprise and Industry, to the winner: the innovation forum Sistema Madri+d.

Sistema Madri+d has since 1997 been Madrid's main instrument for linking the business and research sectors, promoting innovation and implementing regional innovation policy. The evaluation panel selected Sistema Madri+d as the winner of the IRE Award on the following basis: