The European Union in 2012 supplied a European center for service innovation (ESIC). The center works with service innovation and politics of this on a regional level for two years. The center will also give inputs for the European Union’s innovation programs 2014-2020 (Horizon 2020, COSMA, SF and more).

The contract was won by a consortium of consultancy companies from European countries. Rambøll/Finland is leader of the center. From Denmark, the socioeconomic and policy consultancy Damvad is participating.

Four regions in Europe is analyzed in the center’s work: Emilia-Romagna in Italy, Limburg in the Netherlands, Canary Islands in Spain and Luxembourg. On the background of these analyses a suggestion for an EU policy in the field of service and experience will be formulated. The analyses and suggestions for policies will be evaluated and treated in the spring of 2014 by a panel of experts in the field, consisting of four European researchers. One of these is Professor Jon Sundbo from our research group of Innovation in Service and Experience here at Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies (CBIT), RUC.