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Building International Partnerships in Facilitating Innovation in SlovakiaLinz – 12 June 2013Daniela Olejarova

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A few facts about Slovakia...

• Has a population of 5,5 mil. and 36 higher education institutions and 13,8 % share of population with completed tertiary education1

• 0,68% of GDP was spent on research and innovation in Slovakia in 2012 , 74 % public sources + 24 % private sources – most in IKT, biotechnology, new materials1 (EU average – 2%)2

• Expenses on education in 2012 – 4,80 % of GDP (OECD average – 6,2%)3

• Ranks 20th/27 in the European Innovation survey; in Global Competitiveness Index ranks 89th/144 in innovation activity

• 35,6 % of companies report innovation activity in Slovakia1 (ranking – 20th in EU)2

• Is 25th (in EU) in accessing and using the FP7 funds for research and innovation; 27th in involvement of SK researchers in FP7 projects4

• Has a specific Information Society OP with the total allocation of 988 095 405 EUR, of which 30 % has been spent / 70 % contracted to date 5

Sources: 1 Statistical Office of SR; 2 EUROSTAT; 3 OECD – Education at Glance 2012; 4 SOVVA – Slovak Organization for R&D Activities; 5 www.opis.gov.sk

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What are the key challenges in our context?

Innovation →lower level of innovativeness in industry and society as a whole

R&D → missing linkages between R&D and practice as well as universities; low support of R&D in the system of education

Partnerships → existing “silo”mentality, insufficient cooperation between sectors; missing strong international partnerships

European funds → complicated system of implementation, excessive burden of reporting resulting in “underuse” of the funds (esp. IT)

IT sector → fierce competition and fragmented interests in the IT sector; need for strategic approach

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What has been our response in order to tackle them?

1) Facilitating international cooperation

2) Promoting eGovernment

3) Building cross-sectoral partnerships in R&D

4) Creating professional capacities to enhance proper use of EU funds

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Facilitating International Cooperation

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Our International Cooperation Experience• Since 2007 involved in creating international

cooperation projects through developing meaningful partnerships – both national and international

• Almost 25 international cooperation projects submitted for financing through: cross-border cooperation programs (e.g., AT, PL,

HU) community programs (e.g., FP7, CIP, Media) development programs (e.g., SlovakAid)

• 10 projects in the total value of 8 065 465 EUR implemented or in the course of being implemented

Innovation

R&D

Partnerships

EU funds

IT sector

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Scope of International Cooperation

22 countries

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Partners in Austria

• Johannes Kepler University in Linz• FH Joanneum in Graz• SBA Research in Vienna• Österreichisches Museum für Volkskunde,

Vienna• University of Vienna• Ceconsult GmbH

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Latest International Projects

•Goal: To develop methods and tools for holistic design and management of workplaces in production companies, thereby aligning business goals and human factors

•Partners: LP – Johannes Kepler Universität (AT), total 10 partners

•Amount: 4 040 080 EUR•Our involvement: responsible for coordination, planning,

monitoring and reporting of the case study „Process Automation“ in TC Contact

SO-PC-PRO (7FP)

•Goal: To contribute to increased use of knowledge by Slovak small and medium-sized companies in order to enhance their sustainable growth and innovation

•Partners: LP – Centire (SK), IT Valley Kosice (SK), FH Joanneum Graz (AT), Wissenskapital (DE)

•Amount: 294 231 EUR•Our involvement: as LP responsible for project coordinaton,

management, communication, reporting

LEGEND (LLP)

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Promoting eGovernment

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Our eGovernment experienceDevelopment of our approach

• 2005 - Process, organization and data model for informatisation of public administration (the so-called roadmap of e-Government)

• 2007 - The National Concept of eGovernment in Slovakia (key elements and architecture - common modules, the principle of interoperability IS, key elements in the whole eGovernment process)

• 2009 – CIVITAS – our developed solution that allows municipalities to provide public electronic services (based on open standards, BPM, open source code with the goal of sustainable project in local government with low financial budget requirements)

• 2011 – First electronic public poll - we have carried out an innovative pilot action – the first electronic public poll in Slovakia.11

Innovation

Partnerships

IT sector

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Evolution of Our eGov Approach

Strategy:Roadmap for

eGovernment in Slovakia and

developing NKIVS

Our own Proof-of-Concept:

Civitas portal

Individual projects:

Involvement in developing eGov

projects – national, international

Pilot testing of innovative solutions:

eReferendum – first public opinion poll in V4 countries

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Building Cross-Sectoral Partnerships in R&D

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Our Experience with Building Partnerships in R&D• Developed long-term partnerships with:

7 key higher education institutions in Slovakia the Slovak Academy of Sciences as key R&D

institution 7 Slovak private R&D companies More than 25 international partners involved in

R&D and innovation activities• Two on-going R&D projects in which

Centire Research (a daughter company) is involved

• Submitted total number of 21 projects for funding R&D activities - 12 national, 9 international

Innovation

R&D

Partnerships

EU funds

IT sector

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Example of Co-operation

STU

CENTIRE

1. APVV – Analysis of workflow processes

Centire Research

EMEL BA

2. OP VaV - Knowledge Discovery

3. OP VaV – Competence center

4. 7th FP - AVATAR

ELTE Soft

5. HUSK – eMonitoring CBH

6. HUSK – Knowledge base

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EMEL ® Bratislava, s. r. o.

Centire Research Ltd participates in the implementation of the selected R&D tasks within the “Knowledge discovery – structuring high dimensional data with the support of decision-making” project.

Centire Research Ltd.Selected credentials

The Slovak University of Technology

As a partner, Centire Research Ltd is involved in research activities within the frameworks of the “Centre of competence of intelligent technologies for computerization and informatization of systems and services” project. The Slovak University of Technology is the lead partner.

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Creating Professional Capacities to Enhance the Use of EU Funds

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EU funds

• Submitted more than 100 project applications for our clients

• Provided assistance in implementation of 47 EU funded projects

• Facilitated access of our clients to EU funding of 65 projects in the total amount of 50 mil. EUR in the last 2 years,

• The main areas of EU funding were: Infrastructure – e.g., in municipalities, schools, cultural

heritage sites Education Support of competitiveness of the private sector Research & Development and Innovation

• For following sectors: Business sector Local and national government Health service sector Academic and R&D institutions

Innovation

R&D

Partnerships

EU funds

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Opportunities for Collaboration

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Potential Areas of Co-operation

• Facilitate broader international partnerships in R&D and innovation

• Identify Slovak partners who could be involved in international collaboration and projects

• Assist international partners in developing contacts with organizations from various sectors in Slovakia

• Share local knowledge of the marketplace and context in relation to different types of industries

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Introduction to Centire

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Introduction to Centire Ltd.

• Centire has been operating in the area of consulting service provision in the Slovak market for 18 years.

• We operate in four main business areas: Management consulting Grant consulting International Cooperation and Innovation IT consulting and development

• Our mission is to bring innovative ideas and to implement meaningful solutions into practice.

• Our approach is based on meaningful cooperation, mutual trust and responsibility; we treat our clients as our partners.

• We are certified by ISO 9001 and we are also a member of EFQM

Slovak consulting company

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Introduction to Centire Ltd.History

1994 2000 2004 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Electronic public poll We have carried out an innovative pilot action – the first electronic public poll in Slovakia.

Awards for IT productsWe received the IT GALA honorable award for the eFFICE 4 City project.

Consulting for public sectorIn that period we carried out process and organizational audits in the central government sector.

Grant ConsultingWe began to offer our services in the area of project proposal preparation.

Establishment of CentireWe started with Accounting services.

IT ConsultingWe developed our IT services and cooperated on building the eGovernment in Slovakia.

International ProjectsLaunch of international projects in our company.

Establishment of Centire ResearchLaunch of the civitas.sk portal.

Innovative action of the year We were awarded by the "Innovative action of the year“ prize for the first electronic poll.

1997

Management ConsultingWe started with Management consulting services.

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Selected project experience:

International Projects and InnovationKey Contact

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Daniela OlejárováSenior Consultant

Tel: +421 902 900 762 daniela.olejarova@cent

ire.com

Key Contact Profil:

• holds a MA degree in psychology from the Comenius University in Bratislava and studied at the University of Hartford as part of the Fulbright program

• in 2005, received Teeter scholarship to participate in the Strategic Management Program organized by the William Davidson Institute / University of Michigan

• speaks English, French, Serbian, German, and Russian

• enrolled in PhD study at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Masaryk University, BrnoDaniela has a rich experience in developing connections between the sectors in addressing social and

regional development issues, promoting innovation as well as working with various types of populations. During her work experience she served as a consultant for the women’s micro-enterprise program in Slovakia; for institutions of the Slovak central and regional government on social and regional development and project management as well as for other institutions primarily on the issues related to corporate social responsibility (including UNDP and British Embassy). She participated in several research projects focusing on microfinance, social capital, innovative impact monitoring systems and social enterprises. She has an experience in preparing and managing international projects in Central and Eastern Europe (namely Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia). Her work affiliations include private sector (Calder, Centire) as well as non-governmental organizations in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.