Since 2023 IDEA Consult has been part of the COOPERATE project consortium. COOPERATE is an Horizon Europe project designed to develop and pilot  the European Research Area (ERA) Hub concept, hence implementing the first steps of the ERA Policy Action 15 “Building up research and innovation ecosystems to improve excellence and competitiveness”. The COOPERATE project has created a methodology to strengthen university-led regional R&I ecosystems across Europe. The tools developed support the creation and development of ERA Hubs and the creation of a pan-European network of ERA Hubs.

The challenge & project objectives

The COOPERATE project has developed several tools including a self-assessment tool and a toolbox. The self-assessment tool is an online tool designed to help regional R&I ecosystems to assess their current level of maturity  along 7 lines of action , allowing them to benchmark themselves with other R&I ecosystems and to identify their own strengths and gaps, thus laying the foundation for development into an ERA Hub. An ERA Hub is an ecosystem of quadruple helix actors led by universities aiming at improving knowledge valorisation within their region.  ERA Hubs operate within their broader R&I regional ecosystems, which constitute the background conditions for knowledge valorisation. ERA Hubs can be seen as structured collaboration mechanisms that foster knowledge valorisation within regional R&I ecosystems. The collaboration mechanism is seen as a flexible and light collaboration mechanism, adaptable to diverse types of ecosystems while avoiding the creation of new entities or organisations. Regions are at the centre of the ERA Hub concept, thus addressing ERA policy through systemic change at regional level and allowing to tailor the ERA Hub to the unique feature of each region.

The self-assessment tool collects the main indicators for measuring maturity at ERA Hub level, and for monitoring its evolution over time. The Self-assessment questionnaire goes beyond facts or indicators available in public repositories. It collects more in-depth information that often requires a qualitative assessment. The Self-assessment process is designed as an interactive, co-creative process, based on discussion between different actors in the ecosystem. By discussing the questions and trying to get to a consensual answer for each of them, the actors are able to provide a more balanced answer to the question on the situation as is but also come to a profound joint understanding of the strengths of the ecosystem and its gaps. The Self-assessment tool provides a realistic view on the current maturity level of the ecosystem and supports the creation of a better understanding of the needs and possible actions to further strengthen it. The self-assessment tool return a score of e.g. 1-5 on each line of action, which help inform the choice of tools to implement within each theme, as it is unlikely to yield the desired effect if a very advanced tool is implemented before the foundations are in place in the ecosystem.

The toolbox offers 33 concrete, actionable tools that ecosystems can implement to elevate their maturity, tailored to their assessment results. These tools serve as a resource for designing and implementing strategies that cultivate vibrant and sustainable ecosystems, driving breakthroughs and maximising the impact of research and innovation efforts. They can be applied in a variety of regional R&I ecosystems with the main aim to strengthen the respective ecosystem.

Approach & results

As the tool is operational, it can be applied by regional stakeholders to assess the maturity of their respective ecosystem, based on a set of KPIs. The assessment takes place in seven areas namely research, talent, innovation, knowledge transfer, funding, collaboration and governance. The tools can be used to strengthen areas in which the R&I ecosystem can improve, offering pathways for the advancement of the respective ecosystem. The assessment can be done for various thematic areas within a regional R&I ecosystems e.g. the assessment related to sustainable technologies will be different compared to an assessment related to life science.

For more information on the COOPERATE project, please visit: https://www.cooperate-project.eu