Final Report Summary - CLINES (Cluster-based Innovation through Embedded Systems technology) Executive Summary:The Europe 2020 strategy clearly signals the importance of industrial competitiveness for growth and jobs as well as for Europe’s ability to address grand societal challenges in the coming years. Mastering and deploying Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in the European Union is central to strengthening Europe’s capacity for industrial innovation and the development of new products and services needed to deliver smart, sustainable and inclusive European growth. Among the societal challenges are the demands for sustainability and energy saving, the growing age of populations, reduced public budgets and the expectations from citizens on improved services and living conditions. In the context of these challenges, the notion of smart cities constitutes a possible solution. A joint triple helix emphasis on development and application of smart-city solutions and systems will stimulate growth and innovation and also solve a number of challenges for citizens, cities and regions. In order to support this emphasis, the CLINES project has defined a triple helix strategy through a Joint Action Plan (JAP) for the area of smart cities. The plan takes as its starting point the specific competences and trends of research and technological development within embedded systems for smart cities (ESSC) and its applications of the four involved regions and cluster organisations.The plan is formulated through 14 recommendations supporting the objectives of• unlocking new finance sources in a synergic manner• boosting innovative eco-design approaches• bringing SMEs to play the role as innovation actors at an international level and boosting their international competitiveness• contributing to the development of adequate smart specialization strategies for the involved regions based on the Joint Action Plans• dissemination in order to promote awareness of innovation potentials through focused events and showroomsThe plan has been validated internally by CLINES through an adapted evaluation framework, and also formulated in a special version targeted for political decision makers on smart specialisation. Furthermore, special efforts have been made on the development and validation of an open innovation methodology through a series of innovation workshops. Finally, an internationalisation strategy has been formulated based on the idea of establishing beachhead partnerships with additional, complementary clusters.Project Context and Objectives:The Europe 2020 strategy clearly signals the importance of industrial competitiveness for growth and jobs as well as for Europe’s ability to address grand societal challenges in the coming years. Mastering and deploying Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in the European Union is central to strengthening Europe’s capacity for industrial innovation and the development of new products and services needed to deliver smart, sustainable and inclusive European growth. In the KETs domain, the EU is now facing growing and overwhelming global competition from both developed and emerging economies in particular in North America and East Asia. Although the EU remains resilient, in a position of relative strength, it must now reinforce and rapidly develop its KETs industry to compete for the future. The mastering of KETs and in particular embedded systems as the primary focus of the CLINES project is founded in excellent research cooperation and the ability to generate new products, processes and methods based on the excellent research. Partnering, risk-sharing and mobilization of critical mass across the Union are needed to master increasingly complex and multidisciplinary technology and business chains in ICT. In this respect the CLINES cluster partnership will address many of the difficulties facing innovative research and business actors. Often the research results never find a way to the market and we face the so-called valley of death. As identified by the High Level Group on Key Enabling Technologies, Europe has major difficulties in translating its ideas into marketable products and crossing the valley of death. CLINES has therefore aimed to drive an innovation agenda close to the market and the end-users.The CLINES partnership builds on the cooperation and experience of four European Research Driven Regional clusters with proven track records. The partnership involves BrainsBusiness ICT cluster in North Jutland, Denmark, BICCnet in Bavaria, Germany, DSP Valley in Leuven, Belgium, and GAIA in the Basque Country, Spain. Each participating cluster builds on strong and committed triple helix partnerships in the four regions. The mission of the CLINES partnership is to develop a sustainable, well-organized European key technology intercluster, where the outcome of the partnership will increase the coordination of trans-regional innovation investments in key enabling technologies and ensure an efficient development, exploitation and dissemination of the ICT applications, models, methods, and solutions across the regions.CLINES project results aim to lead to growth perspectives and increased European excellence within key enabling technologies and foster pertinent regional digital agendas. It furthermore aims to provide a framework for cluster cooperation to internationalize and unlock novel business opportunities on global markets beyond Europe. By the end of the project period, CLINES has established as a full-blown Research Driven Cluster partnership based on a Joint Action Plan as developed throughout the project.Strategic objectivesBeyond the project, the partners of CLINES will develop an ecosystem for innovation within the focused area of Embedded Systems technology and its application within selected areas that match the cluster profiles. As the first application area, CLINES has focus on the concept Smart Cities with particular emphasis on their environmental sustainability. Within this area, the cluster research centres and companies have been partners in European projects like e.g. the Artemis projects ENCOURAGE (smart energy) and eDIANA (energy efficient buildings), FP7 projects as SAFECITY (safety in smart cities as Madrid, Athenas, etc.), ITEA projects such as SUS (Smart Urban Spaces – transport in smart cities as Caen, Oulu, Saint-Lô, Bordeaux, etc.), and also a number of national projects. Hence, CLINES addresses both (a) (the Digital Agenda) and (b) (Resource Efficient Europe) of the Regions of Knowledge work programme. This is realized through the development of a Joint Action Plan (JAP), which lays the foundation of the creation of an innovative knowledge region based on very promising research areas. The JAP contributes to the objectives of:• unlocking new finance sources in a synergic manner• boosting innovative eco-design approaches• bringing SMEs to play the role as innovation actors at an international level and boosting their international competitiveness• contributing to the development of adequate smart specialization strategies for the involved regions based on the Joint Action Plans• dissemination in order to promote awareness of innovation potentials through focused events and showrooms Operational objectivesTo reach the strategic objectives set out for CLINES, the project focus on the following operative objectives:• Identification of key competences among participating clusters – formulated as a competence- and swot analysis and realized through joint workshops and researcher mobility activities. The roadmap identifies competences within the embedded systems area and also competences within selected applications areas – focusing on the complex of Smart Cities. The initial selection has been be made at project start and further studied through workshops and exchange visits. The competences include the elements outlined in the funding call, and a mapping and analysis exercise has formed the basis of an initial SWOT analysis.• Joint innovation workshops bringing together a variety of stakeholders from regional and international levels and both focusing on innovation of embedded systems technology and also on innovative applications within selected areas. The results provide important, challenging input to the work on a joint RTD plan and also identify illustrating examples for showroom demonstrators.• Establishment of joint showrooms which both will be used for dissemination of results and opportunities and also for hosting prototype demonstrators which illustrate new potential applications of embedded systems technology. These demonstrators are based on ideas generated by the innovation workshops.• Formulation of a Joint Action Plan following the outline of the Regions of Knowledge Workplan. This is be based on the results of the mapping and analysis work and also on the results from the innovation workshops. The plan has been be defined through a number of iterations, i.e. it has been presented for stakeholders and further refined via innovation workshops a number of times.• Formulation of an Internationalization Strategy, to boost competitiveness and to unlock new business opportunities, based on a complementarity analysis of other European and worldwide clusters.Science & technology and innovation objectives of the projectCLINES does focus on both cluster driven developments of technology (embedded systems) as well as its exploitation within selected areas. Of prime interest have been applications on Smart Cities and in particular Mobility, Intelligent Buildings and Smart Grids. Embedded Systems is a key enabling technology within the FP7 JU Artemis and also an important element within Internet of Things. Reliably networking them to work together to provide innovative services remains the basic challenge. The focus of CLINES cluster cooperation has been targeted applications of key technologies demonstrated via selected focus areas.In order to contribute to the setting up of regional digital agendas and strengthen the competitiveness, the Research Driven Clusters within CLINES have identified their key competences and funding opportunities within the targeted technologies among the participating clusters – formulated as a RTD directory and realized through joint workshops. The mapping exercise has identified competences within the embedded systems area and also competences within selected applications areas – including Intelligent Buildings and Smart Energy Grids. The competences included the elements outlined in the call, and the mapping has formed the basis of an initial SWOT analysis. This was the basis for work package 2 (WP2: RTD mapping and analysis).The innovation part of CLINES was realised through joint innovation workshops bringing together the triple helix actors and both focusing on innovation of embedded systems technology, innovative applications within selected areas, and the relevant funding opportunities. The results provide important, challenging input to the work on a joint RTD strategy and also identify illustrating examples for showroom demonstrators. WP3 (WP3: Innovation workshops) has formed the basis for this activity.A key part of the dissemination activities of CLINES was be the establishment of joint showrooms which both was used for dissemination of new and existing challenges, results and opportunities and also for hosting prototype demonstrators which illustrate new potential applications of embedded systems technology – including Intelligent Buildings and Smart Energy Grids. The innovation workshops generated important input to the showrooms. WP7 (WP7: Showrooms and dissemination) has driven this activity.Based on the regional RTD mapping and analysis and the innovation workshops, a Joint Action Plan (JAP) was formulated following the outline of the Regions of Knowledge Working Plan and defining the strategies for research agenda, funding, dissemination, innovation, smart specialization and knowledge transfer. This was based on the results of the mapping exercise and also on the results from the innovation workshops. The plan was be defined through a number of iterations, i.e. it was be presented for stakeholders and further refined via innovation workshops a number of times in order to build consensus and commit key regional stakeholders. This was the aim of (WP4: Joint Action Plan). Elements of the plan was launched in parallel with CLINES following the funding opportunities and also exploiting the fact that the partner clusters at project start already had established links via a number of European projects based on the cluster partners.As part of the Joint Action Plan, also an Internationalization Strategy was developed (WP5: Internationalization Strategy). Through the analysis of strengths and weaknesses of other European and worldwide clusters, the CLINES project team will establish additional cluster partnerships, fully exploiting synergies and complementarities amongst the different partners. In this way, new business opportunities will be unlocked, mainly for SMEs in the CLINES clusters, and their competitiveness will be boosted.The work packages were driven through a number of iterations, i.e. an initial phase resulting in a draft JAP and highly based on existing plans and opportunities, a second phase with a JAP taking the SWOT analysis into account, and a final phase resulting in a JAP which is based on the experiences gained from launched elements of the plan in parallel with CLINES. (WP6: JAP Evaluation and Sustainability)WP1 (WP1: Project Governance), has coordinated the project activities – including management and liaisons to relevant European and International clusters.Project Results:1.3.1 WP1 – Project GovernanceThe objective of this work package was to perform the project activities within the planned time and budget and according to the goals formulated in the proposal. Moreover, this WP should ensure the overall management of the project in accordance with the Consortium Agreement and the work plan, including project planning, coordination and day-to-day management as well as the handling of the financial, legal and contractual matters.A summary of the management activities and main achievements is given below: • Management procedures were discussed at the kick-off meeting in October 2013, and procedures for document handling have been established, including procedures and review teams for deliverables, milestones, consortium communication and reporting.• The Consortium Agreement was finalised and signed in December 2013.• Once a month web-meetings (using Skype) were held with the participation of all partners. The main objective of these meetings has been to provide a short status of the progress of work and to ensure on-going communication between work packages. In addition, these meetings have worked as a platform for the project management to provide the consortium with important news or updates on the overall progress of the work (beyond normal email contact). It was the aim to always have at least one person from each partner present at these meetings. • Apart from the kick-off meeting face-to-face meetings have been held in Leuven (March 2014), Bilbao (February 2015), Aalborg (June 2015), Munich (October 2015) and San Sebastian (April 2016). Furthermore, a final meeting was held in Leuven, June 2016.• An amendment was made to the Grant Agreement in the last months of the project introducing additional tasks and a revised budget to reflect these tasks.1.3.2 WP2 - Regional RTD mapping and analysisThe results of the CLINES project are very well documented in the project deliverables, which are publicly available, for example at the project website www.clines-project.eu To facilitate and encourage further reading, the major results of the work package are presented ordered by Deliverables.D2.1: Description of cluster competenciesIn each region, the partners used their contacts to identify the relevant initiatives in the ICT/Smart City area already in place, and provided a short description of the focus of each initiative.As essential building block, each region conducted (questionnaire) interviews with key companies in the area (29 Spanish replies, 102 Flemish respondents, 70 German respondents and 22 Danish respondents), to build a clear profile of the competences and business needs in the region. The survey looked at the SmartCity priorities per region, but also explored in which domains business was generated (see Figure), and from a technology side, which specialisations exist. In communication with the governmental partners linked to CLINES, for each region a summary of the public programs and policies was compiled. An interesting conclusion is that few regions have something called “Smart Specialisation Strategy”, but that all regions have strategies under different names that go with the spirit of Smart Specialisation.D2.2: Trend roadmapTo identify trends in technology and society that will need to be addressed; a meta-study has been undergone, based on 20 studies on the future of Embedded Systems and Smart Cities. The guiding questions were “Trends in Society and Economy”, “Technical Open Questions”, and “Business Opportunities”.In conclusion, three areas were identified that need to be addressed, and can be addressed with the capabilities of the project partners: Smart living, Smart Environment, and Smart Mobility. This is in line with the business opportunities identified. For each area, visionary scenarios were developed. In Smart Environment, for example, Micro infrastructures can be created by connecting as many things as possible. The objective is to connect as many entities, sensors and physical objects as possible in order to create run and manage this micro infrastructure with minimal direct human involvement.From the technology side, the following areas were in conclusion identified as needing technical advances:• Manycore• Sensor and Actuator Technology• Stable Distributed Controllers• Communication Links• Non-Functional Requirements (such as Dependability and Interoperability)• Engineering Concepts• Domain Engineering of Open Applications and Platforms• Higher Abstraction Layers (such as Semi-autonomous Behaviour and Planning, Human-Computer Interaction, and BigData/Learning)D2.3: SWOT of cluster competenciesFor each of the CLINES core business fields (smart living, smart environment, and smart mobility), and each region, an analysis of the strength, weaknesses, and possible strategies is available.Locally, Regional Interest Groups on Smart Cities were introduced that involve local stakeholders, help disseminate the project findings, and yield feedback on the planned actions. Those RIGs are nurtured still today, as essential connection to Smart City actors. D2.4: Analysis and catalogue of funding sourcesEach cluster is now well aware of the locally (and nationally) available public funding sources, with the contacts established documented.Contacts at private funding lenders (VCs, banking industry) are renewed and documented.D2.5: Regional match analysisPutting the big picture together for each region, yielding advice for businesses and policy makers about future positioning. The advice is in a non-standardised form, and tailored to be well communicable in the regions.1.3.3 WP3 - Innovation workshops The goal of WP3 was to get a clear picture of identification of innovation opportunities on research, business, funding and dissemination – including workshop activities. This work package was intended to provide feedback to WP4 and serve to define a clear view of the field about the innovation opportunities. The work conducted within WP3 has evolved from the first attempts on defining innovation spaces and how to perform the innovation workshop framework, towards a mature vision on open innovation based techniques to be applied during workshop instalments and a comprehensive description on innovation methodologies for the participant regions and the companies within a cross-sector value chain. Outputs will be described following the work package structure present on the project in order to allow a better understanding and simplify the access to related information present in the deliverables related to the different tasks.Task 3.1 Definition of spacesThis task was about creating opportunities for open innovation to transform cities. We developed 5 editions of the CLINES Innovation Workshops, using different formats where diverse administrations were directly involved, apart from the participant companies and clusters. The goal was to bring about organizational and cultural change that needs no new infrastructure or major investment and should be accompanied by incentives for young researchers, for companies, for the cluster, for administration to the general public.Task 3.2 Development of three open innovation workshopThe idea of joint innovation workshops is bringing together a variety of stakeholders from regional and international levels and both focusing on innovation of embedded systems technology and also on innovative applications within selected Smart City areas. This was the key task within WP3, since the organisation of Innovation Workshops was both a goal and a means to achieve the additional objectives defined. Thanks to the work extension (described in amendment 2016) we were able to perform five editions of the CLINES Innovation Workshop and develop two methodologies based on Open Innovation principles to be applied during the events. The most relevant outcome of this task could be gathered as follows:• Partnership constructed among the participant entities increased the coordination of trans-regional innovation investments in key enabling technologies and promote an efficient development, exploitation and dissemination of the ICT applications, models, methods, and solutions across all the regions. The workshop editions raised awareness on the relevance of promoting collaboration, creation of business opportunities and dissemination of activities related to the Smart City domain and Embedded Systems applications• Creation of actual opportunities for company networking and Open Innovation practices to trigger collaboration among the actors in the value chain. Administrations, clusters, companies and citizens were brought together to discuss and find new technology-based solutions for some of the Smart City challenges presented. The workshop was an ideal environment for starting new paths and ways for common initiatives• Development of two Open Innovation based methodologies that served the purpose of defining the CLINES Innovation Workshop format #1 and #2. This work was applied both for the workshop itself but also as a practical training for the task T3.3 where innovation methodologies were analysed and evolved• Identified indicators for measuring and qualifying the feedback from workshop participants. Throughout the different instalments of the CLINES Workshop, it was crucial for us to find a way of evaluating and measuring the performance of our activities. Several items were basic for our better understanding and evolution of the technique applied: impact of prior dissemination, enjoying multicultural assistance, duration and timing of sessions, interest on the technical topics discussed, new ideas or opportunities created, etc.D3.2 “Report on the Innovation Workshops” covered a full revision of how the different editions of the Innovation Workshops were delivered, implemented according to associated methodology, and how obtained results can be compared and valued.Task 3.3 Development of a methodology on how to implement open innovation in organizationsAlong with the work developed under tasks T3.1 and T3.2 directly related to the Innovation Workshops, the CLINES team was also dealing with Open Innovation Methodologies and principles as such, which served as input for the accomplishment of this task T3.3. With the information obtained in T3.1 and T3.2 we developed a methodology of how open innovation could be implemented in a region. Deliverable D3.1 “Methodology on open innovation for the participating regions” reports the framework that we propose to relate the Open Innovation paradigm with the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) and the actions derived from the Joint Action Plan (JAP from WP4) for the participant clusters and regions. The methodology is based on a series of processes that could influence market, research, standards and regulations, among other issues.For this task, we proposed to extend the scope of Deliverable D3.1 and provide a broader view on the Open Innovation approach we from two perspectives:• Open Innovation paradigm and possible methodologies for companies on how to plan their innovation strategy and take some actions into practice (especially SMEs)• Open Innovation taken from a cross-sector view and how the company could benefit from the synergies between different markets or sectors towards innovative lines of workDeliverable D3.3 was proposed as “Methodology on open innovation from a broader cross-sector view” and with the focus on the company, especially an SME. This report provided a more comprehensive view through the alternatives available for a common company that needs to tackle with the challenge of Open Innovation, not to be left apart from the competitive market. We also presented a whole innovation framework, which covered possible methodologies from the company perspective and from the cross-synergies approach, as well as the inherent measurement and evaluation system required. We applied our own proposed framework to a couple of CLINES practical cases related to the showrooms in WP7.Task 3.4 Definition of indicators for open innovationAfter developing the two formats of the workshop and the associated methodologies, and presenting a framework for applying Open Innovation both from a regional and a company perspective, it was mandatory to be able to define a set of indicators to check how efficient the implementation of open innovation is in selected scenarios. Beyond the simple definition of indicators, we proposed an Impact Evaluation and Measurement system within our Open Innovation Framework that provides hints for several phases of the overall process. Measureable indicators could vary along the way depending on the type of evaluation you need to perform (quantitative or qualitative), but also on the specific kind of result that requires tracking: input, output, outcome or impact related.All this work was reported and included in aforementioned deliverable D3.3. Clearly significant results obtainedTo highlight the most significant results obtained within WP3, we could summarise the following:• Development of two alternative methodologies and workshop formats to be applied during the organisation of a CLINES Innovation Workshop• Creation of spaces and networking opportunities for companies, clusters and administrations for trans-regional collaboration initiatives around the Embedded Systems technologies and Smart City application domain• Implementation of five Innovation Workshops in the different participant regions: Brussels, Aalborg, Munich, San Sebastian and Leuven editions, which provided incredible and valuable feedback to continue working towards the overall goal but also to extend the practical work in an optimal and more meaningful direction within the project• Establishment of connections among the general paradigm on Open Innovation principles, the strategic regional plans on Innovation and Research, the intended investments by the administrations, and the possible actions of a Joint Action Plan as CLINES trans-regional initiative• Definition and proposal of an Open Innovation Framework covering all possible phases of a global innovation initiative with its associated challenges, modules, collaborations, requirements... and of course, its associated impact evaluation and measurement systemAs a summary, open innovation techniques and methodologies offer valuable guidelines for the innovation on embedded systems companies. These methodologies should be completed and coupled with regional innovation guidelines and partner or collaborator needs in order to create positive environments where collaboration can arise as the natural way of working as appreciated in the innovation workshops carried out within CLINES project.1.3.4 WP4 – Joint Action PlanWP4 is a key work package as the purpose is to develop a Joint Action Plan (JAP) as the key result from the project. The JAP explains the vision, collaboration and specific objectives of the CLINES regional partners to achieve economic development among the regional partners and covering the area of embedded systems for smart cities (ESSC). The JAP has been developed in a collaborative effort involving regional interest groups in the four participating regions. Each of the regional clusters has organized their regional interest group in different ways reflecting the regional circumstances, the different interests, players and stakeholders. These meeting in the regional interest groups took the input from the mapping of the regions’ competences, trends, and funding (from WP2) and the innovation workshops (from WP3). The immediate results of the regional interest groups are documented in deliverable D4.1.The regional interest groups have served the purpose of informing the development of the JAP. The JAP has been developed by the CLINES project in two phases. In the first phase an initial JAP was formulated (in deliverable D4.2) and that was subsequently debated with the regional interest groups for feedback and to be further informed by the various stakeholders in the four regions. The second phase was explicitly informed through the regional interest groups and the collaboration with these. This led to the final Joint Action Plan (in deliverable D4.3) that was fine-tuned with the latest feedback from the stakeholders and also informed by the work on the key process indicators in WP6. The JAP details a strategy that outlines the key actions necessary to promote the development of the involved regions and clusters. It pinpoints what it will take for the involved partners to push economic development by enabling innovative technology partnerships within the collaborative area of embedded systems for smart cities. The strategic objective of the JAP is defined as:The particular actions taken by CLINES partners and regions to improve the domain of Embedded Systems for Smart Cities in Europe and in the four regions. The Joint Action Plan must drive economic development through both joint actions and regional actions within Embedded Systems for Smart Cities for the benefit of citizens. After the final JAP was delivered it was transformed to communicate the key messages to regional policy-makers and stakeholder. This was done as recommendations (deliverable D4.4) where extra effort placed on communicating not only the recommendation but also what the background is. The CLINES project developed the D4.4 as a stand-alone publication that defines the central concepts of smart city, smart city system, and smart specialization, gives examples, provides the vision, and expand the 14 recommendations to policy-makers. This was done in an effort to communicate the recommendations in a manner that will speak directly with those that are otherwise not familiar with smart city thinking or with embedded systems. The JAP has five long-term goals with 14 key actions, see figure. 1.3.5 WP5 – Internationalization StrategyUrban regions are confronted with unmet needs which can be solved by embedded system enabled solutions. The CLINES consortium has been setup to focus on those unmet needs and to push economic development in the area of Embedded Systems for Smart Cities (ESSC) forward. To reach this objective the consortium has developed a strategy which is documented in a Joint Action Plan (JAP). The JAP details what is required from the participating CLINES regions (North Jutland, Flanders, Basque country and Bavaria) to move forward.The Joint Internationalization Plan (JIP) developed in WP5, complements the Joint Action Plan. While the JAP focuses on the 4 regions involved, the JIP looks outward the existing consortium to other regions and aims to unlock new, global opportunities in the ESSC domain. By doing so, the CLINES consortium aims at reinforcing ESSC economic development with global activities in close collaboration with international partners.In the joint action plan the CLINES consortium partners describe which actions they can take together to push economic development for embedded systems technology in the Smart Cities domain forward. The Joint Internationalization plan defines how to involve stakeholders from other regions and other continents to reinforce the CLINES consortium and increase the impact of the Joint action plan. The CLINES internationalization plan is built on 5 strategies which all relate to the overall objectives of the Joint Action Plan. Furthermore 4 pilot actions are defined which could be further elaborated on. The internationalization plan will includes clear internationalization objectives and goals, strategies and actions to reach the objective, a distribution of roles and responsibilities amongst CLINES consortium partners and other stakeholders, an overview of sources to fund the internationalization activities and results of preliminary analysis to define internationalization priorities. This plan will be aligned with the objectives and activities in the Joint action plan.1.3.6 WP6 – Joint Action Plan evaluation and sustainabilityThe nature of WP6 was a supportive one, aiding other work packages in combining and revising their results. The results of the WP are hence mostly of procedural nature.As central element, a model was developed (cf. Figure) that allows showing the relations between overall goals, goals, sub goals, actions and stakeholders. This model was used as a blueprint for the formulation of goals and sub goals for the Joint Action Plan (JAP) – it did in fact enable the partners to agree on common goals and actions.To measure the success of the proposed actions, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were developed – not from scratch, but based on findings from the KPI literature, and the experience of the cluster managers.For example, to measure how many companies repositioned themselves according to Smart Specialisation, the following metric can be used:(number of Companies that changed their positioning according to the region’s smart specialisation)/ (number of Companies reached about smart specialisation)The KPI framework (documented in Deliverable D6.1) was supplemented by best-practice KPIs targeted at measuring the cluster ecosystems themselves.To evaluate the planned actions, a novel methodology was applied (as proposed in the DOW): The actions were virtually applied to ongoing projects, and the impact of their outcome on the goals measured. That means, the managers of selected projects were asked to evaluate if the actions would have been beneficial, had they been implemented in the scope of their projects.The projects itself were chosen from projects running in the cluster ecosystems of the partners, based on their similarity to the actions and projects proposed under the Joint Action Plan.As a conclusion, the method of virtual evaluation (as documented in Deliverable D6.3) is very effective. It allowed giving actions that only existed as concepts a reality check, and adapt the actions in the final JAP to be most effective.In the end, the findings of the virtual evaluation, and on action sustainability, allowed the partners to concentrate on twelve core actions (see Deliverable D6.4 chapter 2).1.3.7 WP7 – Showroom and disseminationThis résumé aims to summarize the dissemination activities of the CLINES project. The activities described in the report have been developed in an orderly way and always at consortium level. As shown in the following, the stated objectives have been met as well as the activities described in the dissemination plan, and we have developed additional activities that have been identified throughout the project and have generated an excellent added value to the project communication.All project deliverables can be found in the project website.D7.1 Project Dissemination Plan +Web SiteThe first step to start work in spreading the CLINES project was the realization of a dissemination plan and website by the partner responsible for this task, GAIA. This plan was completed and approved by all the project partners during the first months of the project and once settled, communication objectives and major tasks, in which each partner work, began to develop outreach activities.The web: http://www.clines-project.eu the twitter page: https://twitter.com/clinesprojectWe have produced other documents and materials already included in the periodic report, but a summary of the main indicators for ease of reference is given below:• More than 70 news published on the web• More than 141 tweets • More than 6,200 receptors of our newsletter• More than 800 leaflet distributed• More than 100 appeared in the medias• Poster, videos • One information paper and presentation• Leaflets with our intermediate and final Joint Action Plan D7.2 Report on Showrooms EstablishedThis deliverable wants to provide a set of project demonstrators that can be informative, interesting and easy to approach, and at the same time can be inspiring for further developments or cooperation between the cluster´s companies involved in the project and other organizations. We have identified 17 showrooms classified in different domains such as: Environment, mobility and living, and we have distributed it in a map in order to easy their localization. This report will be will be further expanded in D7.7.D7.3 Brochures with Cluster Research Agenda and Implementation PlanAn information brochure about the Intermediate Joint Action Plan was produced. On six pages it describes the five goals and sub goals as well as suggested actions to meet these goals. The key project overview is presented, as well as information on the project partners, and the URL for the project website. The aim of this brochure is to deliver clear information to a broad audience, but always having the focus on CLINES Regional Interest Groups and stakeholders on Embedded Systems for Smart Cities of CLINES Intermediate Join Action Plan. The idea has been to use this document in order to encourage the dialogue about the suggested goals, sub goal and actions so that the obtained feedback will build a consistent final action plan.The dissemination of the brochures is developed in D7.4. D7.4 Mailing Distribution to Embedded Systems StakeholderWith the objective of encouraging our interest groups to act and to keep them involved in the CLINES project and particularly in the intermediate Join Action Plan a dissemination of the intermediate Joint Action Plan has been produced in the form of a newsletter.The following table presents the number of receptors, following the description above: BICC NET BRAINS BUSINESS DSP VALLEY GAIAGovernmental bodies 154 88 113 15SMEs 1.364 689 1.431 180Large enterprises 234 98 613 40Research institutions 206 277 522 15Other organizations 23 199 318 18Other Cities 14 17 0 6Solutions Providers 0 0 0 30Other Projects 0 15 0 12D7.5 SmartCities Information PaperThe aim of this deliverable is to find a useful guide to explain main concepts about Smart City and understand its importance for a more efficient management of everyday life in cities. This is not only about high tech, big data, embedded systems, electric vehicles and renewable energy. This is about how the Smart City can trigger a sustainable development for our cities and can help the delivery of better services to their citizens.For that purpose, a SmartCities Information Paper has been created as well as a presentation.D7.6 Communication activity: Embedded World / Smart City EventsThis is an activity not foreseen in our first proposal but included on the amendment request submitted to the Commission in 2016.From 23-25 February 2016 in Nuremberg, Germany a CLINES booth was established at the Embedded World Fair. The fair was attended with the aim of promoting the project activities and results, and fostering its exploitation potential. The participation in the Embedded World fair was accompanied by a revised edition of our poster and a press release.Similarly, throughout the project life the partners have been participating in other fairs, conferences and workshops in order to promote the project objectives and activities: more than 50 actions.D7.7 Final Report on Showrooms and Demonstration Activities and Three Success Cases (visual material)This deliverable elaborates on the showrooms identified in D7.2. As part of the showrooms, 29 selected demonstrators developed in other projects have been described in order to visualize potential applications of embedded systems technology and thereby generate further innovative project ideas. The following application areas are addressed: Smart Environment, Smart Living, Smart Mobility, Smart Economy and Smart Governance. This information is also reflected in a graphic way, via different Showrooms maps. Some of the showrooms have been visited by the project participants: Living Tomorrow in Brussels, KUBIK in Bilbao, and Smart Kalea in San Sebastian.Based on the reallocation of the project budget and on the opportunity identified to make more understandable what Smart Systems for Smart Cities are, the project partners have made a video that incorporates their general vision about Smart Cities and some real experiences of smart city projects.The end result is a nine minute video. The three real cases included are: BikeCruzer from Denmark, Aircontrol from Belgium and SmartStreet from Spain. A new update of the website including an option to download section contents has been developed since it was not foreseen to have a video at the beginning of the project. The video can be visualized in two forms: the complete version or case by case, see http://www.clines-project.eu/.D7.8 Final Cluster Launching Conference and Analysis of Other MediasThe CLINES Innovation Workshop and Closing Conference was held in the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe in Leuven on June 15th 2016.The project partners also decided to organize an innovation workshop at the same time as the closing event, in order to present our experience to a broader and international audience, so at the end an Innovation Workshop was additionally added to the closing event and final conference.The CLINES closing event was held under the title Why Smart Cities? Why now? During the closure we had the opportunity to present the CLINES Joint Action Plan as well as the CLINES Internationalization Plan, and finally we learned from the experiences of two European cities: Bilbao and Munich.Potential Impact:In a highly competitive and globalized world economy the pressure is on European businesses to continuously deliver new and innovative products, services and processes. Innovation thrives in environments where access to the latest knowledge is easy obtainable, either through a highly mobile and skilled workforce or through diffusion of knowledge through public-private partnerships between the producers of knowledge (e.g. universities) and private enterprises. European regional authorities and world- class cluster organizations have an important role to play in providing a supportive regulatory framework and provide state-of-the-art infrastructures that are conducive to the constant process of innovation.Furthermore European regions and clusters are in a unique position to actively facilitate and increase the quantity and quality of the diffusion of knowledge in the regional innovation system by launching coherent initiatives, building incentives and promoting the establishment of public-private partnerships on a regional level. One of the key factors for strengthening the regional innovation systems, and thereby promoting sustainable growth and employment, is regional focus and active involvement in research and development.The CLINES project has proposed a strong programme of activities for bringing together key regional players across Europe to lead the way to developing a sustainable, well organised European intercluster with a clear focus on Embedded Systems and the further development and application of this key technology in relation to major societal challenges within resource efficiency.The project was founded on a strong and determined cooperation of four European research driven regional clusters, BrainsBusiness in North Jutland (DK), BICC Net in Bavaria (D), DSP Valley in Flanders (B), and GAIA in the Basque Country (E). The participating regions have a particular expertise in the field of SME support, SME clustering and experience in promoting public-private partnerships between the research community and the regional SME community. This expertise and experience will be put into use beyond the project and will - combined with the research capabilities of the universities provide the basis for dissemination of project results, which will have an impact on the realization of the European digital agenda and on smart specialization strategies for European regions. Furthermore the project focus on one of the key enabling technologies to deliver smart growth in line with EU 2020 growth strategy – namely embedded systems for smart cities.Across the different application areas related to Smart Cities (Smart Grids, Intelligent Buildings, Mobility and Internet of Things), the potential markets will be exploited through the results from e.g. a joint effort on standardizing the embedded systems platforms supporting the areas. Currently, the areas have separate markets and standards, and a unified approach is foreseen to boost the market significantly.Also, the complementarity of the specialized competences of the four clusters is expected to accelerate and expand the potential market for the involved companies. In particular, the combination of competences within model based development, wireless communication, automotive controllers and security/trust is expected to create a strong position within the upcoming market of apps for smart cities. Such apps must be trustworthy, reliable, certifiable and also able to operate in a highly dynamic and mobile environment.Specifically the project will create and build a European infrastructure for innovation by linking world- leading ICT research infrastructures and innovation clusters. By aligning research and innovation agendas and building and sharing key infrastructure and resources, European clusters can build the critical mass required to attract talent as well as mobilize public and private investments.A strong focus for CLINES has been to secure the involvement of European SMEs to create business opportunities, boost collaborative & open innovation and promote investment opportunities for both public and private investors. European economy is heavily dominated by SMEs, which represent 99% of all companies and about 85% of all new job-creation since 2002. The impact from CLINES is to use the cluster organisations as tools for engaging SMEs in the European community of research and development and thereby create new global business opportunities and growth.The participating regions all represent large knowledge-intensive SME communities within the ICT sector that represent a major contribution to sustainable growth and job creation. The project results will further strengthen the capacity of the regions to mobilise the potential of the SME community and provide the necessary and specific regional framework to support and attract further investment in Embedded Systems Technologies and related applications. Thus strengthening competitiveness and further adding to the smart specialisation of the involved regions.List of Websites:The project website (www.clines-project.eu/) will be maintained for at least one year beyond the end date August 31, 2016. It contains partner logos and contact names as well as some showcase videos.
