SRIP Smart Buildings and Home including Wood Chain (SRIP PSiDL) is taking part in the revision of Slovenia’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (S4), as part of Slovenia’s preparatory efforts for the new European cohesion policy in the programming period 2021–2027. At the same time, SRIP PSiDL has revised its own action plan for the period 2020–2022. The plan also presents strategic orientations for the operation of SRIP for the period 2021–2027.

The need to revise the action plan arose as a consequence of increasing digitalisation and the intertwining of solutions for smart and sustainable buildings and their integration into the smart communities of the future, against the increasingly diverse demands and needs of users. The revision of the action plan has taken place in line with SRIP’s holders’ request to simplify operations and strengthen involvement in the international arena and value chains. However, the main target of the action plan’s revision has been to increase the positive impact of SRIP PSiDL operations for both members and key stakeholders.

The revised action plan is based on the experience gained in SRIP’s three years of operation and represents an evolution of the SRIP PSiDL operation as it was initially devised in the basic action plan for the period 2017–2019. The latter was based on the integration of solutions and product directions across four separate focus areas – Advanced Non-Biogenic Construction Products; Wood and Wood Chain; Smart Devices and Systems; and Active Building Management, as well the emerging focus area Advanced Living Environment – which turned out to present some problems in terms of the integration of the increasingly diverse stakeholders of smart and sustainable buildings.

In the revised action plan, four focus areas were identified. These include a group of product directions necessary for the formation of a unified whole – that is, a building segment, to cover, for example, the construction of buildings, interior elements, building management and supplies, connection to the community and smart nearly-zero energy buildings.

The action plan’s validation procedure as part of the “entrepreneurial discovery” process in the S4’s revision

The draft of the revised Action Plan SRIP PSiDL for the period 2020–2022 is now under discussion, its content being harmonised by the key ministries before it enters the next round of the “entrepreneurial discovery” process in S4’s revision.

It is expected that the harmonisation of the action plan’s contents, under the auspices of the Sector for the Coordination of Smart Specialisation – which is part of the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy of the Republic of Slovenia –  will run until the end of 2020. In this respect, we will also invite SRIP PSiDL members and key stakeholders to provide their contribution in the elaboration of the content.