7_Lecture_EU Integration, Cohesion Policy, Funding and Main Policies

Lecture 1 - Introduction: economic geography and its recent paradigms
Regional
Geography
of Southern
Europe
WS 2021-2022
Lecture 7
15-12-2021

Structure of
the course
1) Introduction to regional geography and the focal study region
2) Regional geography of Southern Europe: differences and uniqueness
3) The territorial governance of Southern Europe
4) Spatial planning (including SSP) and planning systems of Southern Europe
5) The economic geography of Southern Europe
6) The economic geography of Southern Europe, continuation (08/12/2021)
7) EU Integration, Cohesion Policy, Funding and Main Policies (15/12/2021)
8) Research and development in Southern Europe: where and what for (12/01/2022)
9) The social dimension of cross-border relations across SE (19/01/2022)
10) Southern Europe and sustainability transition efforts (26/01/2022)
11) Conclusion: Regional futures across Southern Europe (02/02/2022)
Lectures Regional Geography of Southern Europe

European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social and
cultural integration of States wholly or partially in the EU. European integration has primarily
come about through the European Union and its policies (Gibson, 2001).
European Union (EU) Integration
Schuman Declaration - 9 May 1950
Purpose:
To promote
European integration
Source

The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), or Treaty
of Paris, was signed on 18 April 1951 and came into force on 25 July 1952.
EU Integration
• The founders of the ECSC were clear about their intentions for the Treaty, namely that it
was merely the first step towards a ‘European Federation’.
• The common coal and steel market was to be an experiment which could gradually be
extended to other economic spheres, culminating in a political Europe.
• The aim of the European Economic Community was to establish a common market
based on the four freedoms of movement (goods, persons, capital and services).
• The aim of the European Atomic Energy Community was to coordinate the supply of
fissile materials and the research programmes initiated or being prepared by Member
States on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
• The preambles to the three Treaties reveal a unity of purpose behind the creation of
the Communities, namely the conviction that the States of Europe must work

EU Integration
Source
Treaty of Rome - 25 March 1957
Establishing the European Economic Community
Two treaties were signed on 25 March 1957 - the
Treaty establishing the
• European Economic Community (EEC) and the
Treaty establishing the
• European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or
Euratom).
• It set up the European Economic Community (EEC) which brought together 6
countries (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands)
to work towards integration and economic growth, through trade.
• It created a common market based on the free movement of:
• goods
• people
• services
• capital.
• The Treaty of Rome has been amended on a number of occasions, and today
it is called the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the
European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC, otherwise known as ‘Euratom’), or
the Treaties of Rome, were signed on 25 March 1957 and came into force on 1
January 1958.
EU Integration
The EEC Treaty’s provisions included:
• The elimination of customs duties between Member States;
• The establishment of an external Common Customs Tariff;
• The introduction of common policies for agriculture and transport;
• The creation of a European Social Fund;
• The establishment of a European Investment Bank;
• The development of closer relations between the
Member States.

• The treaty established certain policies from the start as joint policies
among the member countries, including:
• common agricultural policy (Articles 38 to 47)
• common trade policy (Articles 110 to 116)
• transport policy (Articles 74 to 84).
• It allowed for the creation of other joint policies. After 1972, the
EEC established joint action in the fields
of environmental, regional, social and industrial policy,
• These policies were accompanied by the creation of:
• A European Social Fund, to improve job opportunities for
workers and to raise their standard of living
• A European Investment Bank (EIB), to facilitate the EEC’s
economic expansion by creating investment funding.
EU Integration: Joint policies since 1957
Treaty of Rome - 25 March 1957
Source
Source
Source

EU Integration and global order
The internationalization of Southern Europe over the
last two decades is closely linked to the process of
European integration, which is taking place in the
context of rapid globalization of economic activity –
liberalization of the economy and finances.
World trade grew
considerable throughout
most of the 1980s.

EU Integration: Portugal, Spain & Greece
1980–1986 Enlargement to the south and the Single European Act
The European Economic Community (EEC)
underwent several major changes in the 1980s.
Having been composed solely of the
industrialised countries of Northern Europe for
many years, it opened its doors to the emerging
democracies of Southern Europe, with the
accession of
• Greece in 1981 and
• Spain and Portugal* in 1986
• * dictatorship until 1975;
• **dictatorship until 1974.
It was a factor of political stability and economic
development of Southern Europe. Enlargement also
led to increased regional imbalances among the 12
EU Member States, and this increased the need for a
common regional policy. Considerable economic and
social obstacles impeded the integration of these
mainly agricultural countries into the highly
industrialised Community.
Source & other references
Portugal
Spain

Portugal, Spain & Greece before EU Int.
Comparing Portugal's profile with that of Spain, Italy, and the three East Asian NICs indicates that Portugal's income
distribution was relatively less equal than the countries cited. On the other hand a comparison of Portugal with
Latin American countries shows the Iberian nation's income distribution pattern similar to that of Argentina, but
relatively more equal than that of Venezuela, Mexico, and Costa Rica. In Brazil
Uneven distribution
1970
Source

On 17 and 28 February 1986, the Europe of the
Twelve adopted the Single European Act (SEA).
The Community — which continued working
towards increased economic integration with
the creation of a single market on 1 January
1993 and the establishment of a European
area without internal borders — gradually
discarded its purely economic character and
moved towards a more closely-knit
Community equipped with greater powers in
the political and social spheres.
The objective towards which the Community
was tending therefore became a European
Union (EU), as provided for in the treaty signed
in Maastricht on 7 February 1992.
EU Integration
17 and 28 February 1986, the Europe of the Twelve adopted the Single European Act (SEA).
From economic integration to a
governance integration involving
different domains of society and sectors
of activity
Treaty of Maastricht - 7 February 1992
Source

Italy’s relationship with the process of European integration differed
markedly from that of the other three countries.
In the first place, from the very beginning Italy had been an active
participant in post-war European cooperation projects and as a
founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 had
been able to ensure that its interests were taken into account.
By the time the others SE countries applied for membership (Greece in
1975, Portugal and Spain in 1977), there was limited scope for new
members to change EC structures, rules and policies in ways that were
consonant with their specific conditions and interests.
EU Integration: Southern Europe (Gibson, 2001).
Moreover, in the early 1950s a realistic case could have been made
(and indeed was made by many) for Italy not to join the Community,
whereas in the late 1970s participation in an EC that already included
most of Western Europe was perhaps >>> Hobson’s choice (a choice of
taking what is available or nothing at all) for Spain, Portugal and
Greece.
Source
Gibson, 2001

European integration has brought about
substantial changes in the role and scope of
national governments and in the incentive
structure of national political activity.
State authorities in Southern Europe, lost, in a
relatively short period of time, their capacity to
influence economic activity, through such
traditional policy instruments as subsidies, tariffs,
quotas, interest rates and exchange rates.
EU Integration: Southern Europe (Gibson, 2001).
The major challenge for European and national policy making, is to strengthen
further the democratic processes within a unified Europe by closing the
‘institutional or policy deficits’ where these arise and by preventing social
fragmentation through appropriate growth and redistributive policies. The
challenges and the bottlenecks facing Southern European countries in the pursuit
of these objectives can serve as a guideline for future developments in the
Western Balkans (and their EU Integration), where these tasks are greater.

EU Integration: situation 2021

Norddeutsches Doktorandenkolloquium Wirtschaftsgeographie
25. bis 26. Februar 2
021
Low-growth regions
Experienced a persistent lack
of growth. They are less-
developed or transition regions
(regions with a GDP per head up
to 90% of the EU average) that
did not converge to the EU
average between 2000 - 2013.
Source; EU Commission, 2017
≈ 83 million inhabitants
Low-income regions
Remain far below the EU
average GDP per capita. They
cover all regions with a GDP per
head below 50% of the EU
average in 2013.
Yes, EU Integration but at different speeds

Norddeutsches Doktorandenkolloquium Wirtschaftsgeographie
25. bis 26. Februar 2
021
NUTS3 Typology
based on
prevalence of
type of
settlements (2013)
Spatial focus:
Select. SMSTs
Loris Servillo, Rob
Atkinson, Ian
Smith et al 2013
5,000 and 50,000 inhabitants

EU Integration: Western Balkans
Western Balkans
All candidates but
enduring
different chapters
or steps on their
EU Integration.
Albania: July 2020, the Commission presented the draft negotiating but as of July 2021
accession negotiations with Albania – and North Macedonia – have not yet been opened.
More advanced
The Republic of North Macedonia: In March 2020, the Council decided to open accession
negotiations without additional conditionality. In July 2020, the Commission presented the
draft negotiating framework – but accession negotiations have not yet been opened.
Montenegro: To date, all 33 negotiating chapters have been opened, of which only three
have been provisionally closed. The last remaining key chapter (on competition policy) was
opened in June 2020. Montenegro could join the EU by 2025.
Source
Serbia: Serbia could also join the EU by 2025, but this perspective was ‘extremely ambitious’.
Serbia’s future EU integration – like Kosovo’s – remains closely linked to the EU-facilitated
high-level dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo on the normalisation of their relations.

EU Integration: Western Balkans
Western Balkans > all candidates but enduring different chapters
Bosnia and Herzegovina: In July 2020, almost five years after the first EU-BiH Stabilisation
and Association Parliamentary Committee (SAPC) meeting in November 2015, the BiH
Parliament voted on the SAPC’s Rules of Procedure, which were formally adopted
Less advanced
Kosovo: After a landmark agreement on normalising relations was reached in April 2013 by
Belgrade and Pristina (the ‘Brussels Agreement’), the European Council decided in
June 2013 to open negotiations on an SAA with Kosovo, which entered into force on
1 April 2016.
Source

EU Integration: Negotiation chapters
The 130,000 pages, which make up the European Union Acquis (i.e., accumulated
legislation, legal acts and court decisions that constitute the body of European Union
law) is grouped in 35 chapters, and it is constantly evolving as new rules and regulations
The 35 chapters of EU accession negotiations are:
1. Free Movement of Goods
2. Freedom of Movement for Workers
3. Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services
4. Free Movement of Capital
5. Public Procurement
6. Company Law
7. Intellectual Property
8. Competition Policy
9. Financial Services
10. Information Society & Media
11. Agriculture & Rural Development
12. Food Safety
13. Fisheries
14. Transport Policy
15. Energy
16. Taxation
17. Economic and Monetary Policy
18. Statistics
Source
19. Social Policy and Employment
20. Enterprise & Industrial Policy
21. Trans-European Networks
22. Regional Policy & Coordination of Structural
Instruments
23. Judiciary & Fundamental Rights
24. Justice, Freedom & Security
25. Science and Research
26. Education and Culture
27. Environment
28. Consumer and Health Protection
29. Customs Union
30. External Relations
31. Foreign, Security, Defence Policy
32. Financial Control
33. Financial & Budgetary Provisions
34. Institutions
35. Other Issues

EU Integration: all about negotiations
Source
Citations
‘Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.’ (page 8)
‘Serbia has agreed to and participated in a process of dialogue with Kosovo to facilitate the
lives of the people which has led to several agreements (free movement of persons and goods,
civil registry and cadastre) and Serbia has taken initial steps for implementation. ‘ (p. 11/12)
‘The Commission therefore recommends that negotiations for accession to the European
Union should be opened with Serbia as soon as it achieves further significant progress in
meeting the following key priority:
• Further steps to normalise relations with Kosovo in line with the conditions of
the Stabilisation and Association Process’ (p. 12)
2011/2012

EU Integration: all about negotiations
Albania report 2021
Chapter 24: Justice, freedom and
security
The EU has common rules for border
control, visas, residence and work
permits, external migration and
asylum.
Citations
‘On migration, the legal framework on migration is largely aligned with the EU acquis but needs
updating in line with recent developments. In February 2021, Albania adopted a new law on asylum.
Strategies on an integrated border management and on the diaspora were adopted in 2020.
Implementation of the national migration strategy and action plan for 2019-2022 as continued,
providing a clear framework for managing and coordinating migration
flows.’ (p. 6)
Albania should increase efforts on the early identification of victims and potential victims
in particular in mixed migration flows and intensify cross-border cooperation with
neighbouring countries and international cooperation. Successful reintegration remains
difficult because core protection, care and social services from the state are insufficient.
(p. 40),

EU Integration: priorities
Source
On 19 October 2021, the European Commission
adopted its 2021 Enlargement Package, providing a
detailed assessment of the state of play and the
progress made by the Western Balkans on their
respective paths towards the European Union, with a
particular focus on implementing fundamental
reforms, as well as clear guidance on the reform
priorities ahead.
•2021 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy
Reform priorities ahead
• Albania Report 2021
• Bosnia and Herzegovina Report 2021
• Kosovo Report 2021
• Montenegro Report 2021
• North Macedonia Report 2021
• Serbia Report 2021

EU Integration: priorities - Albania
Reports have been uploaded onto
OLAT (Lecture 7)
Priorities
• Public administration reform
strategy
• More participation in Horizon
Europe the new funding for
Science and Research

EU Integration: priorities - Kosovo
Reports have been uploaded onto
OLAT (Lecture 7)
Priorities
• Energy including decarbonization
• Developing a smart specialization
strategy
• public administration reform
strategy

EU Integration Beyond Europe
EU regional initiatives
• Enlargement agenda,
• Eastern Partnership,
• Euro-mediterranean Partnership and
• EU-Russia Common Spaces

EU Integration: conclusion
The pace of change in Italy began with an opening of the economy following entry, as a
founding country, into the Common Market in the late 1950s. This facilitated the real
economic integration, at least of northern Italy (more industrialized region), into Europe.
Monetary and financial integration followed much later, from 1979 onwards.
Controls on capital movements were still actively used in the early to mid-1980s, being
removed finally only in 1987.
Macroeconomic adjustment proceeded throughout the 1980s into the 1990s and was
accompanied from the mid-1980s by domestic financial liberalization.
By contrast, in the case of Greece, Portugal and Spain, all these policy changes (the removal
of import controls, financial liberalization, macroeconomic adjustment etc) were
compressed into a very short period from the mid-1980s onwards.
The European Structural and Investment Funds are funds that work together to support
economic, social and territorial cohesion and deliver the objectives of the European Union’s.
The 2021-2027 EU budget or Multiannual Financial Framework

THE EU’S 2021-2027 LONG-TERM BUDGET &
NextGenerationEU (Source)

Lecture 1 - Introduction: economic geography and its recent paradigms Source
Portugal
and
Greece
Western
Balkans

Combining
climate protection, climate-change mitigation and
economic recovery measures
The European Green Deal:
What do you need to know
(Hainsch, 2020)
Requires a tightening of climate targets for 2030 and the
development of an ambitious climate policy pathway,
replacing
“business as usual”
Is a comprehensive set of measures aiming at making
Europe the climate-neutral by 2050

The European Green Deal
Source
Green Deal
Take-home message > make Europe
climate neutral by 2050
The deal’s four pillars
Green deal as a growth strategy that aims to transform
the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a resource-
efficient and competitive economy where there are zero-
net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050.
It must put people first, and pay attention to the regions,
industries and workers who will face the greatest
challenges.
• carbon mitigation,
• sustainable investment,
• industrial policy and a
• just transition.
Green Deal
assumes a
central role
in EU policy
making
(Claeys et al 2019)

The deal’s four pillars
Carbon mitigation Sustainable investment
Industrial policy Just transition > funding
Strengthening the EU emissions
trading system
Subsidies for low-carbon exports and
stricter environmental standards
Green investment should be
promoted by shifting current EU
funds
Support green investment, and by
incentivizing private investment
through regulatory measures
Support for green innovation
New product standards via carbon-
based contracts for difference to
ensure competition between
companies for the most efficient
technologies
Focusing on the possible negative
implications that the transition
could have on specific territories
and economic sectors – given their
reliance on fossil fuels or carbon
intense processes – will be hardest
hit by the transition

Source
Dimensions of the Green Deal
EU Biodiversity strategy for 2030
Circular Economy Action Plan
Farm to Fork
Strategy
See also Outlook 2020: knowledge for transition to a sustainable Europe

EU Funding: Southern Europe
Source

Source

EU Funding: Western Balkans (SE)
Source

EU Funding 2021–2027
• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
• European Social Fund Plus (ESF+)
• Cohesion Fund
• Just Transition Fund (JTF)
• European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF)
• Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF)
• Internal Security Fund (ISF)
• Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy.
Funding for cohesion purposes is generally managed in cooperation between the European
Commission and the national or regional authorities.
It is focused on the EU priorities and is made available primarily from:

EU Cohesion Policy
A key European Union (EU) objective has been to reduce the economic and social disparities between
regions by means of its cohesion policy. The Lisbon Treaty (2007) added territorial cohesion.
It uses EU funds to assist all EU Member States and regions in their economic and social development:
• Regions with severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps (e.g. regions with a very low
population density, islands, or cross-border or mountain regions);
• Areas affected by the green and digital transitions; and rural areas.
The ERDF, the ESF+, the Cohesion Fund and the EMFAF support the following policy objectives:
• A more competitive and smarter Europe, promoting
• innovative and smart economic transformation
• regional ICT connectivity;
• A greener, low-carbon economy, transitioning towards net zero carbon, promoting
• a clean and fair energy transition
• green investment (related to conserving natural resources)
• blue investment (related to oceans, seas and coasts)
• the circular economy
• climate change mitigation and adaptation
• risk prevention and management
• sustainable urban mobility;
• A more connected Europe, by enhancing mobility;
• A more social and inclusive Europe, implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights; and
• A Europe closer to citizens, achieved through the sustainable and integrated development of all types of
territories and local initiatives.

EU Cohesion Policy: Examples
Digital Patient is an innovative medical
technological platform developed by a team of
researchers in Porto, Portugal. The system
converts big data into valuable clinical
information that doctors can use when making
a diagnosis.
Source
As part of its effort to reduce carbon emissions
and traffic congestion, the city of Guimarães, in
northern Portugal, is creating a network of
dedicated bicycle routes.

A cross-border collaboration between researchers in
Portugal and Spain has developed new systems for
low-carbon, small-scale power grids. Regional
agencies are using the research to promote green
energy policies on both sides of the border.
The Playful Paradigm Transfer Network focused on
using games and playful spaces to engage city
stakeholders in urban development. As well as
promoting social inclusion, intergenerational and
cultural mediation, and healthy lifestyles, the
concept also drives environmental awareness,
‘placemaking’ and economic prosperity.
Source
Corner- stones EU Regional Policy
• Place-based approach
• Smart specialisation
• Green Deal

Implemented in the Italian region of Tuscany,
the EcoReLabel project has developed and
made ready for commercialisation ecologically
sustainable plastic and paper labels that can be
removed from plastic and glass bottles used in
the beverage and wine industries.
Open Innovation Lombardia is an online
platform that proposes a new functional,
collaborative approach to innovation. The
project brings academia, industry, government
and citizens together, to enhance use of
resources and human and social capital in the
region of Lombardy, Italy.
Source
Using the quadruple helix
approach to accelerate the
transfer of research and
innovation results to
regional growth.

A disused building and historical monument in
Patras, southern Greece, is being renovated to
bring the city’s municipal services under one
roof, while also serving as a space for cultural
activities. The project will combine the
promotion of cultural heritage with the
provision of services to residents.
A waste treatment plant with a capacity of 63
000 tonnes/year is being built in Serres,
Central Macedonia (Greece), to ensure more
recycling of municipal waste and to divert
biodegradable matter away from landfill sites.
Source

Placing the findings alongside ongoing debates
Source

✓ The crisis highlighted the essential need to uphold the free movement of
persons, goods, services and capital in the Single Market and the need
to work together to strengthen its resilience to disruptions.
✓ It proposes new measures to strengthen the resilience of the Single
Market, especially in times of crisis. It addresses the need to better
understand our dependencies in key strategic areas and presents a
toolbox to address them.
Source
Placing the findings alongside ongoing debates

The Barca Report, An Agenda for
a Reformed Cohesion Policy
(2009), firmly put place-based
policy at the heart of the
European policy agenda and
elevated place-based policy
(fitted to local realities; needs;
resources; values)
on the global stage.

Source
Source
(Barca report, 2009)
2020
EU Place-based policy approach

Definition: Place-Based
✓Is a policy concept
✓Paradigm of regional (development) policy
✓Its objective is to reduce persistent inefficiency > under-
utilisation of resources resulting in income below
potential in both the short and long-run and persistent
social exclusion > primarily, an excessive number of
people below a given standard in terms of income and
other features of well-being > in specific places
Overall goal is to support income generation
(e.g., employment; social housing; access to education)
distribution, reinforcing quality of life and well-being
Source

Why a place-based approach?
✓A region can be trapped in a vicious circle of inefficiency
or social exclusion because the appropriate economic
institutions intentionally fail to be chosen by local elites
(that being against their interests), or because the less a
place has effective institutions, the less likely it is to have
them in the future (path dependency).
✓The goods and services concerned need to be tailored to
local realities by prompting and aggregating local
preferences and knowledge and by taking account of
linkages with other places.
✓Territorial dimension of cohesion is particularly relevant.
Source

✓Raising the quality of services can directly affect the
productivity of business investment and the quality of
life of those living in the region, which can influence
inflows and outflows of skilled labour and innovators
Source

✓ The process of improving public goods and services in
a region creates the context for changing institutions
and encourages the commitment of people necessary
to do this.
✓ The provision of public goods and services reduces
uncertainty and helps to provide a focal point around
which coordination and cooperation are more likely
to take place.
Source

✓ Public goods and services can promote
entrepreneurship and innovation by providing “real
services” to SMEs – by improving the business
environment through facilitating access to external
markets, managerial training, ensuring technical
standards and access to credit and so on.
Source

Source
The rationale for place-based
interventions
Local knowledge is needed to determine the institutions that are
needed. Since institutions capable of supporting a “healthy,
sustainable market-based system” are “highly specific to local
conditions” and “contain a high degree of specialisation”;
Place-based approach aggregates local knowledge with/within
global knowledge (the routines and engineering; know-how
embodied in the provision of any public good or service).

Summary: What Is Place-based Policy?
✓ Place-based policies are one way that governments and
institutions look to respond to economic and social challenges,
bringing together a package of measures that seek to meet
regional needs in their overall assessment.
✓ Place-based policies embody a philosophy about, and an
approach to, the development of economies and society that
acknowledges:
✓ Spatial context of each city, region and rural area offers
opportunities for advancing quality of life and well-being.
✓ It advocates for a development approach tailored to local needs.

Summary: Place-based core elements
Specifically
✓ Improving service provision
✓ Water supply
✓ Broadband access
✓ Promoting sustainable
development
✓ Promoting missing
oriented policies
✓ Improving infrastructures
✓ Roads
✓ Train systems
✓ etc
✓ Facilitating administrative
procedures
✓ Attract labour force
✓ Attract investment
✓ Startup creation
✓ Support
entrepreneurship

Place-neutral
Whilst place-neutral advocates promote the role of aspatial
‘people-based’ policies > place-based approaches highlight
the importance of the :::interactions between place-based
communities:::, institutions and geography, which requires
researchers and policy-makers ‘to explicitly consider the
specifics of the local and wider regional context’
Assets
of the local
Place-based

Source
Place-neutral Place-based

Place-based policies: examples
Source

The Cluster Offensive Bavaria
initiative (the “initiative”)
includes regional platforms in
high-tech industries and
traditional key branches of the
Bavarian economy;
✓ to strengthen the entire
value chain from research
to final product;
✓ to promote
competitiveness through
cooperation;
✓ to implement research
results into new products
and services; and
✓ to increase innovation
dynamics
Place-based
Source/
CoR_Industry

The initiative is structured around
17 cluster platforms covering:
https://www.cluster-bayern.de/
Draws on
economic
strengths in
the region
Regional
advantage
supporting
dialogue and
networking
between cluster
stakeholders
sharing information
on market trends,
research,
technology and
funding
opportunities

Source
✓ Place-based approach
requires a lot of efforts
for negotiation,
compromises and
managing trade offs
among the engaged
partners;
✓ To reach alignment of
different policies and
interests
Several case studies

Source
✓ The Handbook of Sustainable
Urban Development Strategies
aims to develop methodological
support to augment knowledge
on how to implement integrated
and place-based urban
strategies under cohesion
policy
✓ Having an explicit territorial
focus means that needs,
challenges and opportunities
for development must match
the appropriate spatial scale
and territorial context
Place-based

Place-based policies: entrepreneurship
European Green Deal mobilises
systemic innovation, where new
solutions emerge from the
combination of technologies,
infrastructure, skills,
entrepreneurship, and local
administrative capacity.
Source
The design of policy actions and
interventions focuses on the
fostering of local bottom-up
entrepreneurial discovery
processes aimed at promoting
diversification in and around
domains in which a locality already
has significant potential
Place-based innovation
Entrepreneurial region
Place-based innovation policies are policies
that promote entrepreneurship development
with region-specific challenges in mind.

OLAT
✓ The notion of smart
specialisation was conceived
around 2009
✓ Attracted the interest of
regional development policy
specialists
These origins are connected to
discussions within the group about
foreign R&D in European regions
and the ways in which these
regions could be more attractive to
global firms’ location strategies
(Foray and van Ark, 2008).
EU Smart Specialisation Strategy

Before advancing
A smart specialisation strategy means the national or regional
innovation strategies which set priorities in order to build
competitive advantage by developing and matching research and
innovation own strengths to business needs in order to address
emerging opportunities and market developments in a coherent
manner, while avoiding duplication and fragmentation of efforts; a
smart specialisation strategy may take the form of, or be included in,
a national or regional research and innovation (R&I) strategic policy
framework.
Source
Source

Smart Specialisation as policy
✓ The idea of smart specialisation policy
was not conceived as a planning doctrine
that would require a region to specialise
in a particular set of industries.
It seeks robust and transparent means
for nominating those activities, at
regional level, that seem likely to benefit
from R&D and innovation.
Enhance regional assets through R&D

Smart Specialisation as means
Rather than suggesting, for instance, that
Galicia, Spain, which has an important
fisheries sector, should intensify its
specialisation in this industry
✓ It is not about requiring a specialization > but providing the means
for a better understanding of the potentials of the regional assets >
primarily those that could benefit more from R&D
Smart specialization policy provides a
means to assess whether fisheries
would benefit from more R&D and
innovation and whether Galicia should
‘specialise’ in the development of new
innovative solutions for this industry.

Smart Specialisation > engage politics
The smart specialisation framework encourages policy-
makers and stakeholders to ask themselves the important
questions about the future of their region:
Where do we want to see our region positioning itself in
the future knowledge economy and how do we implement
the policies necessary to conform to our collective and
strategic vision?

How to engage politics
Convincing of potential benefits > shaping discourses ideal long-term
What are the activities that we
wish to develop and what
structural changes do we wish to
make?
Smart specialisation framework
is particularly concerned with
regions that are less advanced
to improve their capabilities in
certain domains.
A means of achieving greater
efficiency in resource allocation
and coordination of activities at
system level (member-state and
EU level).

Prime example: 2014 – 2020 – 2021 – 2027
This is where the principle of smart specialisation emerged as a
strategic and integrated approach at regional level.
Be instrumental in investing Structural Funds more efficiently:
✓ Strengthening research, technological development and
innovation (R&I target);
✓ Enhancing access to and use of information and communication
technologies (ICT target).

✓ What matters in smart specialisation is the development of
new specialties, through which regional systems will experience
structural changes.
What matters
As a result of various contributions, it became increasingly
clear that the modus operandi of smart specialisation as
policy approach was very much in coherence with the
regional policy level and that smart specialisation as a policy
tool to generate structural changes

Three main episodes of a
smart specialisation strategy
Entrepreneurial discovery and spillovers > the discovery is
the fact that it is possible to move from one
product/good/service to another based on a similar set of
engineering capabilities and techniques;
Entry and agglomeration > of similar and complementary
businesses (cluster formation);
Structural changes > in the form of the transition from an
old business to a new one.

Examples: 18th century
This was in 1796 in the region of
Morez – a small town on the
border between France and
Switzerland. Pierre-Hyacinthe
Caseaux discovered that from
his production of nails he could
switch to the production of
glasses (spectacles) using the
same techniques.

Examples: 20th century
“Precision Mouldmaking since 1946”
Anibal H. Abrantes created the first
mould manufacturing company in
Portugal, the main market for which
was glass-making. However, the latter
was in decline and Abrantes very
quickly saw the economic potential
offered by the new plastic products
market. He observed the rapid
development of ‘plastic firms’ in
many sectors (toys, electrical
equipment, household utensils and
articles). He travelled all over Europe
and brought back all sorts of plastic
products to Central Portugal Region;

Entrepreneurial discovery in mould industry (Sopas, 2001):
• Providing an exceptional boost to the mould manufacturing industry in
which the Marinha Grande cluster still plays a very important role and
encouraging the setting-up of many firms producing plastic articles in the
same region.
✓ entrepreneurial discovery
✓ entry and agglomeration,
✓ structural change at the regional level
Examples: from 1946 to present
from to

Finland: pulp and paper companies
A few Finnish entrepreneurs viewed
nanotechnology as a promising source of
valuable applications and firms in this
industry were taking steps to assess this
potential.
Some firms responded to these
opportunities by increasing their R&D
spending, exploring recent advances in
nanotechnology in order to develop
applications for their own sector.
New R&D network – involving
incumbents, research institutions,
specialized suppliers and universities –
was a critical step for the assessment of
the usefulness and value of developing
nanotechnology applications for pulp and
paper processes.
From traditional
To more advanced high-tech
regional economic structure

EU defines
100 Radical Innovation Breakthroughs for the future
source etc…etc…

Role of smart specialisation
Formation of entrepreneurial knowledge and capabilities, an
inclusive strategy will produce results enabling strong
entrepreneurial discovery projects to be developed in all parts of the
economy.
An inclusive smart
specialisation strategy
Winner taking it all
Nice projects + funding

Current examples of smart specialisation
Examples
Implementing Smart Specialisation: An analysis of practices across Europe
Smart Specialisation Platform on Agri-food, the
Region of Tuscany (Italy)
Participation in the thematic partnership has
enabled an organisational change at the level of
regional ministries, with an improved
communication on Smart Specialisation.
It also allowed for a behavioural change among
regional officers with more effective collaboration
among various operational programmes in the
lead region
Effective
collaboration

State-of-the-art regional development theories highlight the important role of
informal institutional factors such as
Challenges: smart specialisation
✓ Trust
✓ Responsibility
✓ Professionalism,
✓ Partnership and
✓ Shared leadership for regional
(McCann and Ortega-Argile´s 2014)
This contrasts sharply with the under-developed institutional
framework in such regions, which together with risk-averse or
“play it safe” mentality > limits the space for experimentation,
manoeuvre and flexibility in decision-making and public initiatives
Several factors
could hinder
implementation
A potential solution to this problem lies in the improvement of multi-scalar,
cross-border cooperation (core principles of EU Integration)
(Asheim et al. 2011; Todtling et al. 2013).

Potential exam question
• EU Integration follows various negotiation chapters. However, there are
various negotiations calling for candidate countries to follow some priorities.
Could you please give examples discussed in lectures?
I would expect you mentioned the examples of Albania and Kosovo mentioned earlier
in this lecture.
• EU supports financially its Member States. The various financial instruments
follow overall regional policies or land-mark decisions. Could you please
identify 3 of these policies and briefly explain their meaning?
I would expect you to underline place-based policy, smart specialisation and the
newest European Green Deal and briefly define their goals and or they prime
principles (1 or 2 ideas only).
Publications at OLAT

oliveira@geographie.uni-kiel.de
Or WhatsApp voice message: +32 491 97 05 62

7_Lecture_EU Integration, Cohesion Policy, Funding and Main Policies

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to 7_Lecture_EU Integration, Cohesion Policy, Funding and Main Policies

Similar to 7_Lecture_EU Integration, Cohesion Policy, Funding and Main Policies (20)

More from Private

More from Private (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

7_Lecture_EU Integration, Cohesion Policy, Funding and Main Policies