User:Zuperakos/WiNNOVATE

Funding
The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Total Budget
1.521.620,00 euros

Duration
May 2009 – April 2012

Website
http://www.winnovate.eu

Short description
WiNNOVATE aims at strengthening the innovation capacity of regional and municipal authorities in Greece, Spain, Italy and Slovenia by transferring knowledge and best practices, as well as coordinating policies, on the introduction and proliferation of wireless applications and services for citizens, government, and economic development actors. More specifically, the project will leverage and cross-fertilize existing wireless infrastructures (local and metropolitan wireless networks), define and experiment pilot applications that will add value on these infrastructures for the benefit of end users, and propose policy interventions at the regional, national and transnational levels. We will define an operational toolkit positioning regions in terms of maturity and capacity levels for the introduction and use of innovative WiFi- and WiMAX-based applications and services and use this as a guiding vehicle for the gradual increase of wireless innovation potential for any given region in the Med space. We will jointly establish the specifications and pilot one wireless information service per region, delivering concrete results and acting as a proof-of-concept for the operational toolkit. The project’s main outcomes will be: a reusable methodological approach for assessing and guiding regional authorities towards wireless innovation, working pilot applications at each participating region, evaluation of the lessons learnt by the pilots, and a set of policy recommendations.

Geographic Coverage
The project brings together 7 partners from 7 different regions of 4 Mediterranean countries that share common weaknesses and similar adoption patterns regarding ICT use (according to the 2007 European e-business Readiness Index survey,the 4 countries are all below the EU-27 average). Nevertheless,all 7 regions exhibit a notable increase in key performance indicators,such as broadband access,wireless coverage and mobile penetration;thus positioning them perfectly to benefit from ongoing innovations in wireless and mobile computing.Hence, the project will build on current strengths and infrastructures,boosting the innovation capacity and competitiveness of the participating regions in areas that they need most.

Origin of the project
Large scale wireless networks in cities and regions are growing fast,as regional authorities acknowledge the potential of such technologies to bolster economic development and extend connectivity into previously deprived areas (for example, bring Internet access to less affluent and geographically dispersed users).Notable examples from Europe include the City of Oulu in Finland,the region of Stuttgart in Germany and cities from countries such as Poland,Ireland, and others.Awareness was also raised by ARCHIMED project HADRIAMED,during which the LP gained valuable feedback on the design of municipal wireless networks.These cases & experiences evince that regional and municipal policies recognize the value of digitally connected communities that enable and enhance economic development,improve the provision and effectiveness of government services and operations (e.g. extend the work setting to a flexible environment,allow for remote management of regional resources, and so on) and deliver higher satisfaction among citizens.However,although acknowledged elsewhere in Europe,the systematic boost of wireless technologies-driven innovation in the Med space still remains elusive.Thus,the aim of WiNNOVATE is to bring together cities and regions from the Med space into a collaborative network that will allow them to cross-exchange best practices, benefit from knowledge transfer and coordinate their policies for the continuous assimilation of wireless innovation maturity.

Partners

 * 1) Region of Thessaly
 * 2) Research Center of the Athens University of Economics and Business
 * 3) Vélez-Málaga Town Council
 * 4) Consorzio Università Industria –Laboratori di Radiocomunicazioni (RadioLabs)
 * 5) i2CAT Foundation
 * 6) Municipality of Genoa

Aims & Objectives
WiNNOVATE aims at strengthening the innovation capacity of participating regions by : These activities will lead to the development of a Wireless Innovation Readiness Index (WIRI).
 * Setting up a transnational network of strategic cooperation and know-how transfer between the Mediterranean regions and economic development actors.
 * Exploring the potentials of mobile and wireless technologies, in order to enhance the competitiveness and foster coordinated policy development, across the Mediterranean regions.
 * Identifying policies for the delivery of wireless innovation in the Med space, collecting and disseminating best practices and deploying mechanisms to share experiences on innovative ICT use.

Main Activities & Outputs
Collection and dissemination of best practices and deployment of mechanisms to share experiences on innovative ICT use. Development of a Wireless Innovation Readiness Index (WIRI), a tool that cities and regions (both within and beyond the network) will be able to utilize to assess their wireless innovation maturity level, develop and monitor policies, define appropriate business models and overseee innovation capacity development. Development of the Wireless Innovation Operational Toolkit, a parametric instrument prescribing portfolios of deployment strategies for increasing competitiveness through mobile/wireless computing. Identification of Policy and Regulatory Boundaries for the delivery of Wireless Innovation in the Med space.