The Municipality of Reggio Emilia promotes a call for proposals for the “Open Laboratory“, dedicated to socio-economic development and innovation of the territories.
The laboratory is addressed to economic operators: through a public call presented on January 31 and accessible until March 2, 2018; it is aimed at identifying an entity managing – by October 2018 – that will take care of the start, development and management of the Laboratory, designed on the model of the European “living labs” . The actions will deal with social and technological innovation of the territory, and foresee the creation of new business and administration services able to respond to the needs of the area, fostering welfare, culture, education, and digital inclusion. In this regard, it will be a pole for both creation and dissamination of knowledge, involving citizens, enhancing talents, exchanging information and developing critical thinking, in order to improve the competitiveness, as well as the attractiveness of the territory within national and international scenarios. The start of the Laboratory is scheduled for January 2019.
The Open Laboratory is a public-private company, financed by European funds Por – Fesr, the program outlined by the Emilia Romagna Region and supported by the European Union for economic growth and the attractiveness of the territories (Por Fesr Emilia Romagna 2014_2020 – Asse 6 “Città Attrattive e Partecipate”).
The Laboratory is the result of a participatory planning put in place through the Collaboratorio Reggio, promoted by the Municipality and University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. LabGov played an important role for technical support, along with Kilowatt. It “will allow Reggio Emilia to revive its policies and determine the attraction of intelligence and the success of urban development processes, without generating new urban inequalities, indeed helping to reduce them “. In October 2018, the manager individual identified at the end of the selection procedure will be determined, based on the operating proposal deemed most appropriate.
The public call is accessible here