The educational tour to Finland where partners and stakeholders were able to visit the largest innovation hub in Northern Europe - the city of Espoo - has recently been concluded.
The Finnish tour started with a visit to the Otaniemi Campus in the city of Espoo, with a wonderful welcome by Ari Huczkowski of Lumintel Ltd who led the entire trip.
The InnovaMare team, consisting of the Italian and Croatian partners and industry experts, had the opportunity to visit the University of Helsinki and Aalto University. Interesting training and discussion sessions were held by leading experts on the creation of innovation ecosystems and support structures. There was a lot of talk about innovation and ecosystems, and the University of Trieste exchanged views with leading experts from the Espoo region, sharing successful experiences from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region and productively contributing to the discussion on what elements are needed to create a successful innovation ecosystem.
For the University of Trieste, it was an important opportunity to refine its knowledge on how to create and maintain a well-functioning innovation ecosystem over time, understanding more and more how the key word for a successful ecosystem is collaboration. Collaboration that must take place first and foremost at the regional level, not only between the various stakeholders involved, but also with strong support from policy-makers.
