About RIGHT
RIGHT described through 5Ws1HWHAT:
An Interreg North Sea Region (NSR) co-funded project which aims to enhance regional innovation support capacity to increase long-term innovation levels and support smart specialisation strategies. To achieve this, RIGHT concentrates its efforts on developing the skills of the workforce relevant for SMEs in the participating regions within the energy and blue sectors.
The project's total budget is € 3.366.047, where 50% is funded by the project partners, 39% by the European Union, and 11% by the Norwegian government.
WHY:
European skills are in the need for change mainly because of the following factors which also affect the NSR.
- An ageing workforce
- A faster than ever changing technology
- Digitalisation
- The "Gig economy" (short contracts / self-employment)
- Skills polarisation
- Mismatch between skills on demand and skills offered
- Regional differences
- Internationalisation and globalisation
The region's future production and growth opportunities are largely characterised by the competencies of the population. There are shared territorial challenges that the RIGHT partners have agreed to tackle through the RIGHT project:
1. The lack of knowledge about long-term growth potential in the partner regions and the need to ensure that innovation capacity is developed accordingly.
2. The existing skills gaps act as a barrier to innovation and growth in the blue and energy sectors and related fields.
WHEN:
- Project start: 01.11.2018
- Project end: 31.05.2022*
WHERE:
The project encompasses partner municipalities and counties from countries in the North Sea Region (see WHO below), aiming for both, local and transnational long term effects.
WHO:
Seven countries and 14 partners in the NSR including regional partners, knowledge/R&D partners and industrial development bodies.
- NORWAY: Vestland County Council (LB), Alver Municipality, GCE Ocean Technology, NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster.
- THE NETHERLANDS: The Province of Groningen, Hanze University of Applied Sciences
- UNITED KINGDOM: Fife Council (Scotland)
- SWEDEN: Skåne Region, Industrial Development Center South (IUC Syd)
- BELGIUM: The Province of Antwerp, Ghent University
- GERMANY: The Johann Daniel Lawaetz Institute, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW)
- DENMARK: Vordingborg Erhverv
HOW:
In order to achieve its goals, the RIGHT project has been arranged through five work packages (WP) as follows:
- WP1: Project Management (Vestland County Council)
- WP2: Communication Activities (Vestland County Council)
- WP3: Mapping the Skills Gap - Building a Knowledge Base (Hanze University of Applied Sciences)
- WP4: Bridging the Skills Gaps with Pilots (Fife Council & Ghent University)
- WP5: Increasing Innovation Capacity through Policy
LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE OFFICIAL PROJECT SUMMARY FROM THE PROJECT APPLICATION
The EU Joint Research Centre annual conference, Brussels Oct. 2016 was entitled “Human capital for territorial growth” & discussed how Member States, regions and cities can harness the potential of human capital under the current socio-economic and environmental challenges, to make their territories more dynamic, creative and resilient.
RIGHT partners are aware that they face a skills challenge which clearly needs a new approach to achieve this growth.
RIGHT approach is to connect smart specialisation strategies (SSS) in the North Sea Region (NSR) to human capital and skills. Through collaboration it will define:
- existing and potential regional growth sectors and sub-sectors (blue and energy)
- skills gaps to unlock innovation capacity by testing new models to overcome skills barriers.
The project is a pilot in that it will build methodology, knowledge and understanding giving a model for long-term solutions and transferability. It will design and test tailored educational and training programmes and initiatives to bridge the skills gap in a fast changing skills environment in emerging and growth sectors. The results will be capitalised by the partner regions to give long-term impact as a response in the context of fast changing skills demands. The idea is to roll out the success stories in other North Sea regions and Europe. Defining and solving the skills gap in relation to regions’ growth potential through smart specialisation is a new approach for the 7 regional partners.