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Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Luis Casas LuengoManaging Director
FUNDECYT
Third International Seville Conference onFuture-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA):
Impacts and implications for policy and decision-making
16th- 17th October 2008
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Extremadura Region
Location
Extremadura is a region situated in the South-West of Spain and on the border of Portugal. It is located in a strategic triangle, Madrid-Seville-Lisbon. Divided into 2 provincies, Cáceres and Badajoz.
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Foresight Exercise
Reasons to Foresight
• New regional operational programme that has been the starting point of the exercise
• New regional research programme 2008
• Coordination of the Regional System of RD+I
• Fundecyt: central role due to its objectives
- First essay on multidisciplinary foresight at regional level- High participation of experts- A change on our vision of Extremadura Potential
Extremadura Foresight Exercise
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Foresight Exercise
Participants:
. Presidency of the Region
. Regional Ministry on Agriculture
. Regional Ministry on Economy
. Directors of Research and Technology Centres . Relevant Enterprises of the Region. University of Extremadura. Representatives from Agricultural Cooperatives. Extremadura clusters and associations
TOTAL: 91
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Foresight Exercise
Methodology:Designed into two expert panel meetings for each sector:• General Meeting to decide on the priority sectors• First meeting panels.
– Current situation of the region related to the given sector– Future visions considering strategic challenges.
• Second meeting panels.– Critical factors to reach visions previously identified– Actions and actors that should be involved
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Foresight Exercise
Key sectors:
General Meeting to decide on the priority sectors (08/03/07)
Sectors selected:1. Information and Communication Technologies
(08/06/07 and 17/07/07)2. Energy (21/06/07 and 19/09/07)3. Food Farming Industry (10/05/07 and 07/06/07)4. Materials (20/06/07 and 18/09/07)
Biotechnology has been analysed as part of both the Food-Farming Industry and the Energy sectors
Environment has been discussed as an horizontal issue
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Foresight Exercise
Axes of the Operational Programme:
• Knowledge Society (6%)
• Enterprises (18%)
• Environment (27 %)
• Transport and energy (28.5%)
• Sustainable Development (12%)
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Key Sectors Results – Food Farming Industry
Actions- Encourage business cooperation
- Promote RTD projects
- Provide customised information and personalized training
- Market studies
- Orientate the marketing to promote the region attributes and skills.
Critical factors- Human resources
- Adaptation of RTD centres supply to companies’ needs
- Information, awareness and training
- Innovation culture
- Cooperation
- Financing
- Quality consumption.
Challenges- Low RTD investment rates and innovation culture
- Lack of networking and cooperation
- Financial needs
- Farmer inertia through other non agricultural activities
- Small and dispersed companies
Visions1. Adding value through technological innovation
on products and processes
2. Agriculture land restructuring through other uses
3. Market supply concentration to reach a critical mass
4. National Quality Guarantee to global markets and an Extremadura trade mark to the internal market.
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Key Sectors Results – ICT
Actions- Foster and promote Extremadura capacities
- Creation of new financing instruments
- Value leading technologies
- Cooperation and association as decisive roles
- Training on marketing strategies
Critical factors- Technological and innovative capacity
- Financing and marketing
- Economic assessment of digital contents
- Technology unawareness
Challenges- Low specialization
- Small size and dispersed companies
- Lack of entrepreneurship culture
- Low cooperation and lack of association culture
- Unawareness of the technological transformation
- Absence of marketing business models
- Lack of identity and outside recognition
Visions1. Development of a local sector with a global
scope based on applications and services oriented to specific and social interest sectors
2. Reach a leading development on digital contents
3. Place Extremadura as a global reference node on ICT
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Key Sectors Results – Materials
Actions- Identification of new products demand
- Design incorporation
- Hire scientifics and technicians
- Reinforce regional financing for process innovation
- Technology wath unit / market observatory
- Identify referent projects and companies
- Design a training plan
- Workshops about specific technologies
Critical factors- Products and processes innovation
- Knowledge of national and international markets
- Business cooperation and organization
- Human resources
- Access to technological information
- Business models
- Financing
Challenges- Low investment rates
- Difficult access to external markets
- Lack of innovation and productivity culture
- Lack of specialists with high qualification
- Unconsolidated market for recycled products
- Business risk to create a sector on Biomaterials
- Long time to introduce products in the market
- Last vision dependent on an entrepreneurial project
Visions1. Companies participation on the construction
market by means of new and improved products
2. Productivity improvement through technology implementation
3. Become a reference on recycled and environmental friendly products
4. Create a sector on Biomaterials development
5. Create a sector on Plastic materials production
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Key Sectors Results – Energy
Actions- Give incentive to the local biomass demand and to
agroenergetic crops
- Promote forrest wastes colletion
- Create a biomass storage centre
- Inventory of the biomass and regional distribution
- Dissemination activities. Training plan.
- Technology transfer / technology watch services
- Assessment of the energy efficiency in projects
Critical factors- Security of supply guaranteed / Logistics
- Technological development
- Information about technological solutions
- Business model diversification
- Training
- Overall and sustainable planning
- Stable and sufficient incentives policy
Challenges- Insufficient raw materials and small size of farmings
- Unawareness / change resistance of farmers
- Lack of initial investment / need of financing
- Need of bringing the technology up to date
- High logistic costs
- Lack of human resources training
- Coordination between all agents for projects
- Absence of a strategic regional plan on energy
Visions1. Biomass as an option for rural development
2. General awareness of the information related to new renewable energies
3. Development of a local supply that sustainably integrates every link of the value chain
4. Development of a stable and coherent energy policy
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Follow up
INNOVEEX
• The business organization to reach critical mass: CLUSTER
• Innovation model to implement in Extremadura: INNOVEEX
The CLUSTER is a business organization model that allows the implementation of an innovation system in order to increase Extremadura companies competitiveness
INNOVEEX is a regional cluster, a BUSINESS INNOVATION INTEGRATED MODEL IN EXTREMADURA
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Follow up
INNOVEEXServices offered to clusters:• A Technological Centre to support the Research and Innovation needs
• Business incubators
• Support to internal organization and marketing
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Follow up
Creation of new clusters6 existing ones: Ornamental Rocks, Building Materials, Metalmechanic, Wood and Furniture, Knowledge and Packaging.
2 new ones: Energy cluster (recently created) and Food-farming industry cluster (it will be created during this year)
Technology watch units and observatories• Technology Watch Unit - FUNDECYT
• Other specific units and observatories:– ICT Sector: Extremenian Observatory on ICT
– Food Farming Industry Sector: Technological Observatory on Fruit
– Materials Sector: Metalmechanic Technology Watch Unit
Scientific and Technological parkIt will be established in 2009 with two headquarters (Cáceres and Badajoz ) and it will integrate RTD companies with the aim of fostering collaboration between companies and researchers
Paper Extremadura Region Foresight Exercise
Conclusions
Achievements
• Awareness of the foresight process and knowledge of its methodology have been enhanced
• Key sector areas and key technologies have been identified
• Strategic plans for the key sectors of the region have been built up
• The decision-making process for the development of investment priorities has been supported by strategic information from the Foresight Exercise