URENIO
The URBAN AND REGIONAL INNOVATION Research Unit (URENIO) is a University Lab in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. URENIO is a non-profit research organization that started its operation in 1995. URENIO is mainly involved in competitive projects from the European R&D Framework Programs (FP), the Innovative Actions of the European Regional Development Fund, and the Programs of Territorial Cooperation.
Research Focus
The initial research focus of URENIO concerned the technological development of cities and regions and their ability to create environments supporting R&D, human skills, and innovation. Interest in the contribution of technological innovation to urban and regional development peaked after 1980 by economic geography research on industrial districts of central Italy, new industrial spaces in the west coast of the USA, and the planning of large technopoles in Japan. These new forms of agglomeration brought on the surface a series of phenomena with major impact on urban and regional development, such as the geographical concentration of innovation, the role of R&D and innovation in regional competitiveness and growth, the drivers of innovative agglomerations, the new divides and gaps in terms of knowledge and innovation. Since then, technology and innovation have been a standard point of reference in the development and planning of cities and regions.
The current research emphasis of the Unit is on intelligent cities and regions. Intelligent cities are advanced environments of innovation, combining innovative clusters, technology learning institutions, and digital innovation spaces. Intelligent cities constitute a discrete category of intelligent environments created by the agglomeration of creativities, smaller systems of innovation that operate within cities (technology districts, technology parks, innovation poles, innovative clusters), and digital networks and online services. Intelligent cities added value lies in their ability to bring together and connect three forms of intelligence: human intelligence of the city’s population, collective intelligence of institutions supporting learning and innovation, and artificial intelligence of smart environments, digital networks and online services.
Main fields of research:
- Development and planning of innovative clusters, technology districts, technopoles, science parks, innovation centers, and incubators.
- Regional innovation systems and strategies: Knowledge-based urban and regional development. Management of regional systems of innovation. Regional innovation strategies, RIS and RITTS projects. Measuring and benchmarking of regional innovation performance.
- Intelligent cities: Design and development of digital innovation environments. Intelligent clusters and technology parks. Living Labs. Intelligent city strategies. Applications for collective intelligence, technology transfer, collaborative new product development, and product promotion. Innovation ecosystems, smart cities and future Internet technologies.
Research collaboration
URENIO has developed long-term research and technology cooperation with public and private organisations, including:
- Universities and research institutes: Catholic University of Louvain, Technical University of Milan, University of Montpellier, University of Social Sciences of Toulouse, Fraunhofer Institute, University of Cardiff, University of Manchester, University of Glamorgan, University of Salford, University of Tampere, Aalto University, Turku University, Luleå University of Technology, ESADE Barcelona, University of Bremen, Universite Paris XII - Val de Marne, University of Lodz, Technical University of Sofia, University of Craiova, University of Udine, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Research and Technology Institute of Maastricht, INRIA - Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, IBBT- Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology.
- Technology development organisations: Andalusia Technology Park, Archimides (Estonia), Centro Svilupo (Aosta), Fundacion Labein (Basque Country), Fundecyt (Extremadura), Josef Stefan Institute (Slovenia), Infyde (Bilbao), Institut Jules Destree (Wallonia), Kent Technology Transfer Centre, LABEIN Technology Centre, LEIA Technology Centre, Alava Pronovum (Hungary), Science and Technology Park (Crete), Steinbeis Foundation (Stuttgart), Tagus Technology Park, Talos RTD(Cyprus), Tech Tirol (Lower Austria), Technology Park Oulu TEKES (Finland), Technology Park (Thessaloniki), Zenit (Mulheim), Adventure Research.
- Regional authorities: Basque Country, Central Macedonia, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, Ionian Islands, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Lorraine, Mantova, Peloponnesus, Southern Aegean, SW Oltenia, Thessaly, Wales, Western Macedonia.
- International organizations: European Commission, UN, Unesco, Unido, OECD.
Research projects
URENIO has been involved in more than 90 projects funded by national and international organisations and the European Commission. The overall research effort concerns the ability of cities and regions to create environments supporting R&D, innovation, human skills, and collective intelligence. Core competences of URENIO are in the intersection of urban and regional planning, innovation management, smart environments and digital applications. In parallel to research, the Unit has been involved in the development of technology parks and regional innovation strategies in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Lithuania; in UNIDO activities on regional innovation in developing countries; and in OECD innovation strategy.
Intelligent city platforms
URENIO has developed a series of digital spaces and tools which facilitate the design and development of virtual innovation ecosystems and intelligent cities. The platforms support key innovation processes:
- Strategic intelligence, allowing to gather and analyze information about technologies, markets, and competitors;
- Technology acquisition and learning, allowing to learn about available technologies and ways to valorise them;
- Collaborative innovation and crowdsourcing for creation of networks of product design and new product development;
- Digital marketplaces and online marketing of products and services.
Intelligent cities watch
URENIO offers is a global watch on research and planning activities related to environments of innovation, user-driven innovation ecosystems, and intelligent cities. News, software, books, papers, reports, and best practices are presented in 18 categories dealing with innovation theory and metrics, innovation ecosystems and clusters, virtual innovation environments, digital, smart, and intelligent cities.
Benchmarking center
The aim of the Center, created by the Unit, is to disseminate Benchmarking methodologies and applications to companies, organizations, cities, and regions. The Center provides services via a network of benchmarking certified consultants who have access to online benchmarking applications developed by URENIO. Applications support benchmarking with online filling out of questionnaires and generation of comparison diagrams which are further analysed by consultants. Benchmarking of regions involves monitoring the performance of regions in development and innovation by selected indicators; comparisons diagrams and analytical reports inform about developments in innovation and entrepreneurship of the region concerned.
Academic Activities
Academic activities of URENIO focus on undergraduate and post-graduate teaching on urban development, learning regions, and digital cities. Recent post-graduate activities include:
- The annual post-graduate seminar 'Intelligent cities: Systems and environments of innovation';
- The creation of a series of educational platforms facilitating the design of intelligent cities.
Accomplishments
URENIO is mainly known for its research record in the field of ‘regional innovation’ (TII Innovation Journal[1]); research carried out in the Lab is acknowledged by leading organizations in this field (CORDIS[2], IMProve[3]; Observatory Pascal[4]); it is among the few academic organizations promoting research in the field of intelligent cities (Intelligent Cities Networks[5]) having introduced the concept of intelligent cities as physico-virtual territorial systems of innovation, and most advanced innovative agglomerations. The website is between the 6th and 9th place of ALEXA's ranking of the most visited sites in all 'Education' categories(Alexa [6]).