The INSHAPE European Network of Innovation Hubs for sports and healthy active lifestyle is an important initiative taken by the European interregional S3 (Smart Specialisation Strategy) platform ClusSport in which regions that participate focus on innovation in the field of Sports & Vitality. It aims to make the European society vital by reducing inactivity among the population and shifting the mindset from healthcare to care for health. This is pursued by organizing and stimulating collaborations between regional Innovation Hubs and service providers.
INSHAPE aims to build different Regional Hubs in the EU, which consist of centres of activities in which SMEs and stakeholders can collaborate to provide the latest innovation in the field of sports & vitality and share knowledge for effective solutions to scale up the EU market.
The INSHAPE European Network of Innovation Hubs, thanks to the I3-INSHAPE project, supports SMEs in forming international collaborations and bringing successful innovative products or services to the market, which can contribute to beat inactivity among the European population, foster economic growth and strengthen the European dimension by interregional collaboration.
Supporting SMEs is essential in solving the problem of inactivity among the EU population. The power to innovate lies within SMEs because they are of great importance to our economy and society and drive change from the bottom up.
The ClusSport Partnership (recognized by the EU in the Smart Specialisation Area (S3) of sports & vitality) is a working group that brings together regional authorities, clusters as well as actors from the field of research, education, innovation and technology.
The main objective of the ClusSport strategic collaboration is to help partnering regions to strengthen the sports industries at the EU level.
The Interreg Europe project Inno4Sports, involving 5 European regions—South Netherlands (NL), Lapland (FI), Észak-Alföld (HU), Valencia (ES) and Lodzkie (PL)—aimed to enhance sports cluster development through quadruple helix cooperation and innovative value chains.
Supported by EPSI and led by the Cluster Sports and Technology from South Netherlands, the project concluded with partners exploring new ways to sustain collaboration and innovation in the sport and vitality sector.
Upon completion of the Inno4Sports project, ClusSport partners plus some new entries sought new ways to foster collaboration in order to function and innovate within the framework of the sports & vitality sector. So, they decided to submit a project application under a new EU programme called Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument.
In April 2023, the submitted application was approved by the European Commission and the I3-INSHAPE project started officially in September 2023. The project aims to accelerate interregional SME-led innovations in the sports & vitality sectors, with a focus on creating economic and societal impact.
Self-sustainable interregional innovation Hubs for European SMEs in the field of Sports & Vitality
The INSHAPE European Network of Innovation Hubs, in which the I3-INSHAPE project plays a substantial role, stands at the forefront of a totally new approach to the sport & vitality sector in the European ecosystem. Through this initiative, not only we aim to assist stakeholders and SMEs in innovating and expanding the EU market to offer services that can help combat inactivity, but we want also to fortify the European dimension of interregional collaboration around the sports ecosystem by making sports & vitality becoming one of the strategic priorities of the European Commission in the upcoming years.
The I3-INSHAPE project is a crucial step in this journey, but the INSHAPE European Network of Innovation Hubs goes beyond it. Using an innovation cycle model, INSHAPE focuses on developing, validating, and accelerating SMEs’ innovations to meet market demand efficiently.
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