The main objectives of the RIS initiative in Thessaly, as they have been described in the initial proposal and the annex of the signed contact between the Commission and the Region of Thessaly, are to extend and duild on the work undertaken in the previus RITTS EXERCISE IMPLEMENTED DY THE Prefecture of Magnesia 0one of the four Prefectures in the Region). The General Secretarian for the Region had the clear intention to act as a neutral co-ordinating body through which the interests and challenges faced by industry and the various actors in the four prefectures could be welded together in a common strategy based on innovation development.