Documents regional development 177 results

"Technological capabilities vary substantially across European regions. Combining these diverse sets of capabilities is crucial to develop the technologies necessary to master the green and digital transition. However, collaboration between regions is sparse today. To increase inter-regional cooperation, linkages that spur the development of green and digital technologies must be identified. In this study, we provide an overview of inter-regional collaborations already in place and map new opportunities for these between regions. A special emphasis is placed on potential collaborations between economically leading and lagging regions. Our results provide new impetus for policy designs that strengthen regional innovation capabilities and cohesion across Europe's regions."

"During the last three decades, Albania has maintained steady economic growth which has significantly improved the poverty rate and living standards. However, demographic change has influenced differences in regional development, pres suring the government to draw up new socio-economic policies to prevent greater inequality between the regions. Internal migration from urban zones to the country's centre has significantly affected its development, transforming the Durrës and Tiranë area into an economic powerhouse while, at the same time, other regions face socio-economic challenges. Our continuing study from which this article presents some very early analysis aims to explore sustainable regional development in Albania using a comparative analysis of the regions of ‘Durana' and Kukës. It concludes that Albania's regional development has positively affect ed the urbanisation process but, in a negative way, rural depopulation. Both have influenced the structural deficiencies of ‘shrinking' regions such as Kukës. Further research should define policies which establish a path towards sustainable devel opment in Albania in the future."

"This paper investigates the potential of civic crowdfunding as an innovative and collective option for contributing to the production of local public goods. It is articulated around two pillars. The first section provides a general understanding of crowdfunding practices and focuses principally on its civic component. Civic crowdfunding should be distinguished from other types of crowdfunding since it pursues an objective of general interest and mainly concerns place-based projects instigated by citizens and civil society organisations. The aim of this section is to better understand this field, from the general principles to the specific characteristics of actors and their motivations. The second section goes a step further towards the analysis of this practice with regards to the provision of local public goods. Crowdfunded local public goods usually belong to a specific category of public goods, “urban commons”, which generate significant challenges in terms of production, governance and sustainability. Building on the theory of contracts to better understand the interaction among stakeholders in this process, a new model of co-production relying on civic crowdfunding is proposed. Subnational governments would have a key role to play in enabling this practice and facilitating citizen empowerment through the mobilisation of platforms assets. Civic crowdfunding can provide opportunities for subnational governments in terms of citizens/user information, funding, communication, trust and territorial attractiveness. This paper outlines a series of key questions to guide policy makers in experimenting this practice."

"This article casts light on the increasingly complex geography of innovation and knowledge sourcing activities. We argue that the spatial patterns of learning and knowledge exchange vary substantially across different types of regions and industries. The article elucidates such variations by combining three analytical approaches, namely, (i) modes of innovation (differentiating between science-technology-innovation (STI) and doing-using-interacting (DUI) modes), (ii) regional innovation systems (distinguishing between organizationally thick and diversified, thick and specialized, and thin systems), and (iii) types of knowledge linkages that connect actors during the innovation process. We explore in detail the key characteristics of the spatial architectures of innovation and knowledge flows in STI and DUI industries located in regional innovation systems with varying degrees of organizational thickness and specialization. We also discuss empirical examples documented in the extant literature to illustrate our arguments on how innovation and knowledge circulation unfold in space in various territorial and industrial contexts."

"Neue digitale Daten verbessern die Lebensqualität der Bürger und lassen Kommunalverwaltungen effizienter arbeiten. Das zeigt unsere Studie anhand von Beispielen aus dem In- und Ausland und gibt Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik und Verwaltung.

Die Untersuchung ist die zweite in einer Reihe von Veröffentlichungen zu "Smart Country", dem Thema unseres Reinhard Mohn Preises 2017.
Willi Kaczorowski
Neue digitale Daten verbessern die Lebensqualität der Bürger und lassen Kommunalverwaltungen effizienter arbeiten. Das zeigt unsere Studie anhand von Beispielen aus dem In- und Ausland und gibt Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik und Verwaltung.

Die Untersuchung ist die zweite in einer Reihe von Veröffentlichungen zu "Smart Country", dem Thema unseres Reinhard Mohn Preises 2017."

"Montée du régionalisme, exigence d'autonomie, voire d'indépendance… On assiste aujourd'hui à une fragmentation des nations, dans les pays industriels comme dans les pays en développement. Les causes identitaires – anciennes – se combinent avec le fait – nouveau – que les régions riches ne veulent plus payer pour les régions pauvres. Plus largement, c'est le modèle de cohésion territoriale qui est remis en cause. Dans la mondialisation, les petites nations semblent tirer leur épingle du jeu. Pourtant, leur multiplication pose plus de problèmes qu'elle n'en résout. L'exemple qu'offrent aujourd'hui l'Ecosse, la Catalogne, la Flandre et d'autres régions peut avoir, par effet de contagion, des effets désastreux. Après le nationalisme européen du XIXe siècle, après le nationalisme décolonisateur du XXe siècle, le nationalisme «régional» s'affirme aujourd'hui comme un mouvement d'idées et un but pour le XXe siècle. Dans ce petit jeu égoïste, chacun risque d'être perdant, sauf peut-être les micro-Etats les plus riches. Comment conjurer le poison de la méfiance et de la division ? Ce livre propose des solutions pour maintenir une certaine idée de la démocratie territoriale."

"Convergence among regions is explicitly defined as a political aim of the European Union. Overall, NUTS3 regions have indeed shown a path of convergence since the year 2000, but there are huge differences among the regions. Many Eastern European countries as well as several regions in Spain and Portugal are characterised by a convergence process. However, the opposite holds for many regions in Greece, Italy and the UK. The size of a region's manufacturing is important for the process of convergence, and the direction of subsidies from the EU to the right fields of activity also has a positive influence on the probability of a region to converge."

"Infrastructure is instrumental when it comes to linking local businesses with their global growth opportunities. This paper shows that, by making this link, the transport network can act as a catalyst for regional economic growth. Using a novel approach, we find that firms in regions with a more developed transport infrastructure are better placed to benefit from positive growth opportunities than those in regions with a less well-developed transport network. This advantage is most pronounced in times of economic slack—making a better transport network a key ingredient for economic recovery. It is against this background that the recent slowdown in infrastructure investment in Europe is worrisome. But it is through this channel (among others) that the substantial ramp-up of activity by the European Investment Bank is expected to foster growth and enhance competitiveness in Europe."

"Until recently, Mediterranean countries were called on by European Union officials to provide for a “less-rigid” regulatory framework, in order to enhance “flexicurity”. This paper critically examines post-2008 flexibilization trends by focusing on Spanish, Italian and Greek regions. Starting from a contextualization of atypical employment and security, it then moves in a twofold direction; firstly, it presents the Flexible Contractual Arrangements and Active Labour Market Policies composite indicators, calculated for the NUTS-II regions of 12 member states for 2008 and 2011. These indicators reveal the changing ranking, especially of the Greek regions, towards higher labour market flexibility and relatively low levels of employability security; secondly, it focuses on the changing forms of atypical labour in the six regions that host the capital and the most important port city of Greece, Italy and Spain, respectively, by offering data on the expansion of flexible arrangements therein. The uneven flexibilization trends found in the study regions are seen as an outcome of the interaction between the general devaluation trends, different backgrounds and regionally specific patterns of labour market adjustment, while employment is found to be neither “rigid” nor “flexicure”. The paper concludes with some remarks on the relation between post-2008 dismantling of local labour regimes, restructuring and flexicurity."