In order to maintain and increase

its life quality and to ensure sustai-

nability, Europe is compelled to

reduce the impact of transport on

environment dramatically. At the

societal level, a broad mix of tech-

nological, social and organisational

innovations are required to curtail

the negative effects of road trans-

port. Under pressure to do its part

in this transformation, automotive

sector is under immense pressure

to make a cumulative technological

leap in its products and productions

methods. For instance, lighter

materials have to be introduced

into vehicles, more efficient power-

trains (e.g. hybrids, electrical

propulsion, fuel-cell technologies,

just to name a few) have to be

developed, production and logistics

processes need to be remapped

and ICT-tools need to be better

exploited for more efficient use of

road infrastructure.

While doing this, Europe needs to

maintain the growth of jobs and the

well-being of its citizens, as well.

PROSESC project aims to address

an area where these two issues,

namely environmental sustainabili-

The PROSESC project aims to establish a network of policy-makers and develop-ment authorities to improve the regional strategies and policies regarding the spe-cialized knowledge-intensive services for the automotive sector. This shall be achieved through the exchange of know-how and good practices across part-ner regions.

PROSESC has been sharing its experience and learning from peers and projects by participating in the following events:

- Open Forum 2010 (June - Stuttgart)

- Apps to Automotive (June - Stuttgart)

- f-cell Congress (Sept. - Stuttgart)

- ICT 2010 (Sept. - Brussels)

- Clean Tech World 2010 (Oct. - Berlin)

Events

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#1 - November 2010

©2010 Daimler AG

ty and growth potential of road

transport sector, interact. To achie-

ve both targets, there is need for

fast and diversified learning proces-

ses for all the stakeholders of the

road transport sector.

Knowledge-intensive producer ser-vices are crucial in this context, as they play

several critical roles:

I) Allowing a quick access and absorption of

state of the art know-how.

II) Bringing flexibility to regional production

system.

III) Enabling knowledge-spill-overs across firms

and sectors.

Relevant examples of these services are vehi-

cle design, product development and enginee-

ring services, product testing, provision of dedi-

cated ICT products and services, consulting

services for production management and dedi-

cated just-in-time logistics. These services are

organised in sub-clusters to larger automotive

clusters, where they often serve for and thereby

act as links to other sectors.

Due to their relatively intangible nature and

complex dynamics, producer services

presently lack the deserved recognition and

conscious support at the regional policy-

making level. The existing regional support

efforts are sporadic and often appear as positi-

ve side-effects of initiatives for other ends. In

these cases however, some very positive

results are seen. Yet overall, the potential of

knowledge-intensive producer services to

create multiple effects in terms of increasing

regional innovativeness and job creation is not

fully utilized by European regions.

The overall objective is to help regional

policy-makers to design and implement strategies to

increase the innovation performance of European

regions in road transport sector and to contribute to

the overall sustainability and competitiveness targets

of Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas. This shall be

achieved by improving regional public support sche-

mes for innovation-inducing producer services across

Europe, transferring the academic know-how to

regional policy-makers and by stimulating the design

OUR PARTNER REGIONS:1.- Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (DE)2.- University of Hertfordshire (UK)3.- Government Office of Climate Change (SI)4.- General Directorate for R+D+I, Ministry for Economy and Industry, Government of Galicia (ES)5.- Pannon Novum West-transdanubian Regional Economy Non-profit Ltd. (HU)6.- Province of Turin (IT)7.- Norfolk County Council (UK)8.- Regional Development Agency – West Region (RO)

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About the INTERREG IVC ProgrammeThe Interregional Cooperation Programme INTERREG IVC, financed by the European Union´s Regional Deve-lopment Fund, helps Regions of Europe work together to share experiences and good practice in the areas of innovation, the knowledge economy, the environment and risk prevention. EUR 302 million is available for project funding but, more than that, a wealth of knowledge and potential solutions are also on hand for regional policy-makers. For more information: http://www.interreg4c.net/

INTERREG IVC

of next-generation cluster support policies. This

means, firstly developing a better understanding

of the dynamics and effects of these services,

implementing targeted schemes in to the exis-

ting and planned cluster support policies and

advancing the synergies between services and

manufacturing innovation. The improved regio-

nal development policies shall lead to improve-

ments in terms of the environmental viability and

sustainability of automotive manufacturing

value-chains and end-products.

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First Seminar Workshop PRO-SESC Project in Timisoara During the 17th and 18th of May 2010, the West

Regional Development Agency of Romania

hosted the first Seminar Workshop of the PRO-

SESC Project on “Cluster facilitation insides”.

The Seminar was preceded by a study visit to the

automotive electronic components manufacturer

Hella Electronics Romania SRL the 17th May. The

18th May took place the Seminar Workshop focu-

sing on clusters, concepts on regional agglomera-

tion and general principles of cluster facilitation.

The Seminar Workshop was opened by the Regio-

nal Development Council President Mr. Constantin

Ostaficiuc, and involved the participation of repre-

sentatives from the hosting West Regional Develo-

pment Agency of Romania, the Automotive Asso-

ciation President Ms. Raluca Cibu – Buzac and the

General Manager of Mahle Romania, Mr. Catalin

Tischer. The Workshop was moderated by the

Director of Growthclusters Mr. John Murray and

Keith Bevis of the University of Hertfordshire.

Contact details

Project coordinatorPROSESC Project (INTERREG IVC Programme)Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corpora-tion Friedrichstraße 10 70174 StuttgartE-mail: Reha.Toezuen@region-stuttgart.deTel. +49 711 228 35 43Fax. +49 711 228 35 55www.prosesc.org

Dear Readers,

We are happy to present you our very first newsletter.Knowledge-intensive services (KIS) are indispensible for the innovativeness of Europe. The way they create, utilize and reproduce knowledge across enterprises and sectors creates positive externalities and spill-over effects for the regions and the whole economy.

In PROSESC project, we focus on a specific subset of KIS, namely the type of services that are integral to the development and production of the means for sustainable road transport,

Editorial

PROSESC Project

which come in increasingly diverse forms: from two-wheelers to e-vehicles to articulated fuel-cell busses. The services that interest us cover a broad span of areas, too: product-design, R&D, engineering and IT-services, all the way to specialized logistics. The enterprises concerned, which are more often than not SMEs, deliver a complex ecosys-tem of enabling services that accelerate the absorption rate of innovative technologies by the automotive sector. Being so close to production activities, such services are called “producer services”, hence the title of our project: “Producer Services for European Sustainability and Competitiveness”. We believe that the European regions have the know-how, experience and innovation capaci-ty to develop the innovative and complex mobility solutions for future road transport. PRO-SESC aims to contribute by raising the awareness as to the significance of producer services for Europe and by assisting regional authorities to identify, develop and share proactive strate-gies to improve the public support for such services and the enterprises that provide them. Ultimately, we would like to assist the creation of innovation environments that will take us closer to our common goals on sustainable transport and well-being in Europe.

With our quarterly newsletters we will share our progress with you. The next one will come with a comprehensive report and interviews from our study-visit in Norfolk, where we will have a very close look at e-mobility. Watch this space!

Sincerely,

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