Our partners

Gävleborg County Council / Region Gävleborg

Region Gävleborg is a regional authority in the County of Gävleborg. Our responsibility covers many areas which contribute to sustainable growth and development throughout the region. These areas include public health care, infrastructure and public transport, competence and training, business development, international cooperation and culture. Much of our work is done in collaboration with others, such as companies, organizations, municipalities, universities and government agencies.

Region Gävleborg is responsible for the development and implementation of a number of area specific strategies. The Regional Development Strategy (RUS) is the overall strategy that identifies the availability of talent and competence as well as accessible and well-functioning infrastructure as important drivers for regional development. Region Gävleborg is also responsible for the development and implementation of the RIS3 strategy. The implementation is done through close collaboration with several nationally supported cluster organizations, science parks, the regional incubator, the University of Gävle and other business development organizations.

Within the area of business development our main objective is to strengthen our ability to facilitate and support businesses to sustainably develop and grow in enlarged markets. The program can be seen as a tool that focuses on how we innovative and smart ways to work together across sectors and society. The work is focused on four main areas with their own priorities and goals:

- cooperation (cross-borders and cross-sectors)
- innovation
- education and skills
- infrastructure.

Contact

County Council of Gävleborg
Region Gävleborg
Rektorsgatan 1
811 80 Gävle, Sweden

Carina Åkerberg, Strategist – Regional development
E-mail: carina.akerberg@regiongavleborg.se
Web: www.regiongavleborg.se

Information about the RIS3 of the partner region:

Regional level document: “En Innovationsstrategi för Gävleborg” (2011) and ”Innovations-och näringslivsprogrammet” (2014)
Legal Owner: Region Gävleborg 
Web: www.regiongavleborg.se/Utveckling-och-tillvaxt/Naringslivkompetensforsorjning/ 

Key challenges for innovation policy

Gävleborg is a mid-size region close to the capital area, with a strong industrial tradition, and structural challenges as well as many possibilities. Several large world leading companies in traditional areas such as steel manufacturing, pulp and paper coexist with smaller innovative companies in other sectors. One key challenge, that is general and global, is the ability to attract competence and resources.
Other key issues are:
  • Increased cooperation between education, research and innovation
  • Increased cooperation between the public sector, businesses and academia
  • Investments in infrastructure for verification, test and demonstration
  • Increased access to global markets for SMEs through different instruments and by developing their readiness
  • Increased participation in the EU’s Research and Innovation programmes 
  • Programmes that stimulate innovative public procurement. 

Smart specialisation areas in the Region of Gävleborg: 

Smart Specialisation areas that were selected on a regional level for Gävleborg are:
  • ICT (GIS/GIT, Industrial IT, Broadband and sensor technology)
  • Energy & Environment (Energy production, renewables, waste to energy)
  • Forestry & Wood (Packaging, machining, construction)
  • Steel & Shop (advanced materials)
  • Tourism & Event.

Main objectives of the RIS3

The main objectives of the newly launched programmes on the regional level are to strengthen our innovation capacity and global competitiveness, to contribute to sustainable development and to create more jobs. 

Funding

On a regional level the RIS3 and its activities are funded by several different sources on local, regional and national levels depending on the areas of activity. A number of activities are also being financed through EU structural funds and other sector programmes. No specific sum is allocated for RIS3 activities on the regional level but a large proportion of funds are being spent on them.