Impacts and Indicators of Regional Innovation Ecosystems Supporting Sustainable Development

Ecosystems are in a key role in the implementation of EU innovation policies. It is important to assess and measure the impacts of regional innovation ecosystems. A regional strategy targeting smart specialization is implemented also in smaller regions and development results should be measured. The national indicators and level of analysis concentrate and are conducted mostly on a larger or national level and not specifically measuring on a regional level focusing on its special features. This creates challenges for both development and monitoring practices for regional innovation strategies. The objective of this article is to introduce the concept of regional ecosystem assessing and measuring challenges. It introduces early experiences and challenges of the ongoing Häme Goes into Ecosystems HGiE –project. The objective of the project is to enhance sustainable innovation ecosystem development.