EELISA R&I strategy is based on the following principles:

  • The collective nature of the EELISA Alliance.
  • Acting with a shared vision.
  • A collaborative strategy development process.
  • Comprehensive strategic understanding.
  • Attention to identifying intra- and inter-organizational resources as the potential impact of EELISA.
  • Emphasizing the complementarities.
  • Detecting and unleashing synergies/complementaries among Alliance members.
  • Combining strategic research lines and dimensions of the R&D strategy.

Collaborative Approach

Adopting a collaborative approach in the development of EELISA innoCORE R&I strategy led to an initial analysis of the tangible and intangible resources of the Alliance and their internal distribution among our members.

EELISA Strategic Research Areas (SRAs)

The first step towards the development of the R&I strategy was the identification of a series of strategic research areas (SRAs) that were selected during InnoCORE’s kick-off meeting (30 September and 1 October 2021). EELISA InnoCORE identified 11 SRAs.

What do we mean by Strategic Research Area?

SRAs are broad categories of research areas that are prioritized for the potential development of joint strategic research efforts. Strategic research areas are strongly linked with the pilot research areas of EELISA (“SMART, GREEN & RESILIENT CITIES” and “SUSTAINABLE & SMART INDUSTRIES”), however, they are also strongly associated with the European Union R&I framework and sustainable development goals.

Mapping of resources

During the first phase of EELISA InnoCORE, the Alliance mapped tangible and intangible resources under the 11 SRAs. As a first step, EELISA Alliance members run a survey among their researchers and gathered data to define the number of researchers and research structures per SRA. In addition to clustering research capacities by strategic research areas, EELISA InnoCORE made an analysis of the multi-focus and single-focus research structures (see figure 1).

What do we mean by research structure?

Under EELISA InnoCORE, the term “Research Structures” includes the research centers, research hubs, research groups and research labs, institutes with a research focus, which produce significant research outcomes and thereby, represent a R&I capacity.

EELISA also mapped research outputs, in terms of publications, patents, and projects. This analyses shows that the research capabilities are significant for most of the strategic research areas and SDGs. R&I output analysis revealed strong links between SRA and SDGs, presenting solid evidence of the sustainability orientation of the Alliance (figure 2).

Figure 1: Research Areas with Multiple or Single Focus Researchers Units in the Alliance
Figure 2:  Topics and topic clusters of EELISA publications
EELISA innoCORE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101035811

EELISA InnoCORE R&I Symposium – joining efforts to build a change-maker mindset

Articles, EELISA innocore

The I EELISA R&I InnoCORE symposium took place last week on 16 May, together with the first EELISA Research-Based Learning Symposium. Research and innovation experts met at ITU in Istanbul to discuss how to deepen collaboration in research, innovation and entrepreneurship across the Alliance. Participants had the opportunity to get to know better how EELISA…

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