To drive change in the regional production model, the fundamental pillar is the innovative ecosystem, made up of researchers, companies and institutions working together for a common benefit, as a real team. This is the way to bring about economic transformation and ensure that resources are used efficiently, projecting the business fabric into the future. This is why, under the slogan 'We are a team', the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia held an event yesterday as part of the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation-RIS3, in order to learn about the success stories that have taken part in this initiative and to analyse the challenges that lie ahead from experts in the field in order to identify new opportunities for business development.
The RIS3, which is supported by the Feder Fund, promotes R&D&I among companies in the Region in order to evolve towards a new productive structure, giving tools to what is a "dynamic, strong and cohesive" ecosystem in the Region of Murcia, as highlighted by María del Valle Miguélez during the welcome ceremony, who explained that the objective is to "create more and better jobs through an economic transformation based on knowledge and innovation".
The strategy's capacity to boost R&D&I through public-private initiatives has been rewarded, as this aspect accounted for 0.99% of GDP in 2019, compared to 0.87% in 2009, which motivates further progress in order to be on a par with the national average and reach the European target of 2%. However, the councillor highlighted the excellence of the projects presented during this time, which have attracted 50 million euros in funding at national level, as well as the 4% growth in medium-high technology exports, representing 19.5% in the Region in 2019. In view of this, Valle Miguélez encouraged to "move forward together knowing what we have to improve".
He encouraged that the challenges that lie ahead in the new period 2021-27 be achieved "by working together as a team and seeking synergies to design a better future, based on knowledge and innovation, bringing together companies and researchers with the support of the institutions", and recalled the importance of communicating all this potential in the Region.
A vehicle of opportunity
Transformation, innovation and direction. These are the three key words that Mikel Landabaso Álvarez, Joint Research Centre European Commission, highlighted during his speech, pointing to RIS3 as "the main vehicle for recovery to take advantage of the historic opportunity we have before us". He stressed that innovation, as a precondition for economic transformation, is a broad concept that makes the entrepreneur modernise his company and diversify, with "new, different and cheaper products and services that attack new market niches and provide added value". At government level, he stressed that "they must look collectively at the individual sum of concerns that are businesses and transform the economy at a global level, redirecting it to the Green Pact and digital transformation". He added a fourth word: sustainability, as a new paradigm in the journey towards this pact, stressing that it must be done in a coordinated way, "all at the same time, with a synergic effort of the entire institutional chain", in addition to the value of resilience on this path.
"The RIS3 is the best example on which to build to design innovation policies", he stressed, inviting to flee from improvisation and apply knowledge on the ground and explore new opportunities, with a business and market approach, and moving towards a RIS4 with coherence, clarity and coordination, concentrating on the content. In this regard, the director of Info, Joaquín Gómez, analysed the results of the 2014-2020 strategy, which show the investment effort, as the Region is the fourth autonomous community with the highest number of research staff in recent years. "This makes us feel that we are capable of continuing to advance and provide a space of economic freedom where we can put the value of the knowledge that is generated, raising the level of strategic sectors and those that could become strategic".
Gómez pointed out that in the last 5 years, 30% of the certification of innovative companies are being achieved in the Region of Murcia thanks to the policies that are being implemented and the public-private coordination. "In technology-based companies, 95% of the jobs that are being generated are achieving unthinkable levels of investment and financing", he added, highlighting the need to be aware in the Region of "the capacity we have to generate knowledge and put it to good use".
"We are at an ideal time to work together and design the RIS3 strategy that the Region needs and that can allow us to continue to raise the level of excellence of strategic sectors," he said.
Constant reinvention
Faced with such rapid innovation, which has advanced more in the last 10 years than in the last century as a whole, the economist and lecturer Marc Vidal inspired joint reinvention for the future, as this innovation will be even more exponential in the coming years, in a technological revolution that must be understood, "enjoyed and lived intensely". He pointed out that, despite being in the 21st century, the capacity of technology was not enhanced until Covid-19 forced it to do so, going beyond telework and automation, since what has changed is "the social contract that we call employment and the relationship between human beings and technology". To get out of the situation, he encourages being more efficient instead of taking the "usual" way out, with technology and new business models to achieve more productivity and more employment.
"Technology is not going to be optional, but how we use it is. The immediate and absolute change is in technology, which allows us to do incredible things," he said, while highlighting uncertainty as an opportunity if flexibility is harnessed as a tool.
This will require new skills and training in skills that cannot be digitised or automated in the future or replace people with robots, to be of greater value, such as unlearning, critical thinking, questioning, socialisation, emotional intelligence and technological creativity.
The event concluded with a recognition of the companies and researchers involved in regional R&D&I, after which the president of the Community, Fernando López Miras, took the floor, thanking the commitment of the sector to make "more Region", motivating not to remain in complacency, despite the good starting point, but to "set goals to achieve excellence", making progress together and sharing the best and brightest ideas. "We must humanise technology and research, because in everything you do, the ultimate goal is to improve people's lives," he added.
He stressed the need to continue improving positioning and "converge with the regions of Spain that are better positioned in R+D+i", as well as creating a framework for cooperation between companies and researchers to create "new business opportunities that position the Region of Murcia at an international level".
