EUSALP Forum Lindau 2026

October 26, 2026

What role do clusters and innovation agencies play in implementing European strategies? This question was the focus of the presentation by Dr. Barbara Giehmann of Bayern Innovativ at the EUSALP Forum in Lindau. Drawing on experiences from the European RECENTRE project, the presentation demonstrated how innovation intermediaries act as a bridge between political levels, research institutions, and companies.

The annual forum of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP), which brings together 48 regions from seven countries, focused in Lindau on cross-border cooperation for innovation and sustainable development, as well as on the interaction between different levels of government.

From Strategy to Regional Impact

Bayern Innovativ presented the topic “Making multilevel governance work: Intermediaries as drivers for innovation and cooperation.” The focus was on how European and macroregional strategies can be successfully translated into concrete measures and results at the regional level.
Experience from the Interreg Europe project RECENTRE shows that successful transformation and innovation require effective interaction between different levels of governance. European and macroregional initiatives set the strategic direction and promote cross-border exchange. National and regional authorities establish the political and financial framework. Companies and research institutions develop, test, and validate new solutions in practice.

Innovation Intermediaries as a Crucial Link

A key insight: Strong intermediaries are needed between strategic direction and practical implementation. Cluster organizations and innovation agencies play a key role in this regard. They translate strategic goals into concrete support services, identify regional needs, initiate collaborations, and support companies through innovation and transformation processes. At the same time, they feed back practical experience to policymakers, thereby creating important feedback mechanisms between the different levels of governance.
Small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, benefit from such regional access points. They gain guidance in complex innovation ecosystems and can more easily access partners, funding opportunities, and international networks.

Lessons from RECENTRE

As part of RECENTRE, Bayern Innovativ is working together with European partners to strengthen the resilience of companies in the Alpine region through a targeted transformation toward Industry 5.0. The experiences gained in the project illustrate that effective innovation policy does not arise solely from programs and strategies. Rather, what is crucial is the ability to connect stakeholders across different levels and to initiate joint activities.
The EUSALP Forum provided an ideal setting for this. The exchange with representatives from politics, administration, research, and business demonstrated once again that regional innovation ecosystems thrive on cooperation, trust, and strong facilitators.

Bayern Innovativ as a Regional Hub

As the innovation agency of the Free State of Bavaria, Bayern Innovativ sees itself as an active shaper of these connections. By networking companies, research institutions, clusters, and public stakeholders, Bayern Innovativ helps bring European initiatives and regional innovation needs together, thereby achieving a sustainable impact at the local level.

After all, successful multi-level governance does not mean creating new structures, but rather effectively connecting existing stakeholders, expertise, and levels of governance.

Funded by

RECENTRE is an Interreg Alpine Space project and is co-financed by the EU with 2,122,851.90 EUR under Priority 3: Innovation and Digitalization Supporting a Green Alpine Region. The total budget for the project is 2,998,469.22 EUR.

Are you interested in Industry 5.0? Would you like to learn more about RECENTRE and our transformation support services for manufacturing companies? Feel free to contact us!