Una propuesta de tipificación de las regiones no urbanas en la Unión Europea

Este trabajo presenta el proceso metodológico conducente a la elaboración de tipologías de desarrollo regional elaboradas en el marco del proyecto EDORA3 (European Development Opportunities for Rural Areas). Constituyen un importante punto de referencia en el proceso de actualización de los estereotipos que subyacen en el diseño e implementación de la política de desarrollo regional, y pueden convertirse en un instrumento de apoyo a la toma de decisiones mejor adaptado a la realidad regional europea

Innovation and Peripherality: A Comparative Study in Six EU Member Countries

The present work compares rates of innovative activity among firms located in peripheral dynamic and central lagging areas of the European Union. Data on 600 businesses located in twelve areas, in six countries of the EU were collected in the framework of an EU- funded research project (Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy- AsPIRE- QLK5-2000-00783). Empirical evidence shows that the regional rate of innovative activity is very well predicted by easily observable firm characteristics. Oaxaca-Blinder like decompositions between the difference in rates of innovative activity in peripheral and more central areas are undertaken. Decompositions show that the major part of the observed differential innovative activity rates is unobservable, i.e., it is due to unobserved characteristics and not due to observable firm characteristics. Unobserved characteristics may be either firm specific (human and entrepreneurial capital, etc.) or region specific (institutional environment, social capital, traditional economic factors, etc.) and constitute an unobserved type of innovation specific 'untraded interdependencies'. This conclusion is important for planning policies to support innovation and especially to the regionalization of innovation policies.

The geography of transaction linkages in twelve European case study regions

Small and medium sized enterprises operate within a complex web of links of various kinds. These may be distinguished in terms of their content (transactional, advisory, regulatory, social), "object" (other SMEs, third sector organisations, business services, local and national government), geography (local,regional, global), and durability (transient, permanent, frequent, irregular). A simpler categorisation might be between "hard" linkages involving a recorded transaction of some kind, and "soft" informal interation involving only information. Several schools of thought on local economic development emphasise either or both these types of interaction as important factors in local development dynamics. This is a particularily important group of concepts in relation to peripheral regions, where local opportunities for interaction are constrained, and longer distance relationships are more difficult and expensive. This paper begins with a review of recent research relating to business networks,focusing as far as possible on work relating to rural and peripheral areas, and including relevant aspects of the concepts of social capital, governance and "institutional thickness". This will be drawn together in the form of a number of hypotheses regarding the role of different forms of interaction in determining the degree of economic vitality in peripheral regions. The validity of these hypotheses will then be examined in the light of case-study data relating to twelve regions (six peripheral, six more accessible) in Scotland, Finland, Germany, Spain and Greece. Drawing predominantly on a survey of 600 SMEs, the discussion is structured into the following four themes: The geography of transactional linkages Other aspects of transactional linkages Links with third sector organisactions Links with local, regional and national government agencies. The paper will conclude with a review of the hypotheses and an integrated assessment of the impact of all kinds of networks on regional economic performance. The information presented in this paper has been derived from research funded by the EU Fifth Framework, as part of project QLK5-2000-00783 - Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy (AsPIRE).

The transaction footprints of Scottish food and drink SMEs

This research is funded by Scottish Government’s Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) under Theme 8 ‘Vibrant Rural Communities’ of the Food, Land and People Programme (2011 - 2016).This paper presents a survey approach to measuring the “transaction footprints” of rural small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Combined with a graphical presentation of results, this contributes to the evidence base on the roles of local and global linkages. Findings suggest that the food and drink industry of Scotland is relatively localised in its input and sales interaction pattern, although substantial variations, associated with product specialisms, remoteness/accessibility, input purchasing and marketing strategies, exist. Localised SMEs have weathered the recession slightly better, but more outward-looking in firms tend to have greater optimism about the future. Transaction footprint analysis should be viewed as component of an ongoing process of re-mapping the network infrastructure of the rural economy, alongside analysis of untraded interdependencies, and institutional networks in the realm of governance.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Cohesion Policy for rural areas after 2013. A rationale derived from the EDORA project (European Development Opportunities in Rural Areas) – ESPON 2013 Project 2013/1/2

The starting point of the EDORA project was the recognition that, rather than becoming more uniform in character, rural Europe is, in many ways, becoming increasingly diverse, implying new challenges and opportunities. The project’s overarching aim was to examine the process of differentiation, in order to better understand how EU policy can enable rural areas to build upon their specific potentials to achieve ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’. The first phase of the project consisted of a literature review in order to establish a conceptual framework for subsequent empirical analysis. This identified a very wide range of aspects of contemporary rural change. In order to manage this complexity, and so that it could be communicated simply and clearly, three ‘meta-narratives’ of rural change were devised. In the second phase the evidence base for rural change was explored, both in terms of large scale patterns, based upon regional data, and local processes. The macro-scale patterns were addressed by three typologies. These were complemented at a micro-level by in-depth studies of 12 exemplar regions, reflecting a wide range of types and contexts. The third phase explored policy implications. The project’s findings point towards neo-endogenous approaches, in which a ‘bottom up’ process of regional programme design is fully supported and guided by available information, expert advice and the kind of strategic perspective which is best assembled at a central level. The EDORA findings are thus generally supportive of the ‘place based’ approaches advocated by the Barca Report

The geography of transaction linkages in twelve European case study regions

Small and medium sized enterprises operate within a complex web of links of various kinds. These may be distinguished in terms of their content (transactional, advisory, regulatory, social), "object" (other SMEs, third sector organisations, business services, local and national government), geography (local,regional, global), and durability (transient, permanent, frequent, irregular). A simpler categorisation might be between "hard" linkages involving a recorded transaction of some kind, and "soft" informal interation involving only information. Several schools of thought on local economic development emphasise either or both these types of interaction as important factors in local development dynamics. This is a particularily important group of concepts in relation to peripheral regions, where local opportunities for interaction are constrained, and longer distance relationships are more difficult and expensive. This paper begins with a review of recent research relating to business networks,focusing as far as possible on work relating to rural and peripheral areas, and including relevant aspects of the concepts of social capital, governance and "institutional thickness". This will be drawn together in the form of a number of hypotheses regarding the role of different forms of interaction in determining the degree of economic vitality in peripheral regions. The validity of these hypotheses will then be examined in the light of case-study data relating to twelve regions (six peripheral, six more accessible) in Scotland, Finland, Germany, Spain and Greece. Drawing predominantly on a survey of 600 SMEs, the discussion is structured into the following four themes: The geography of transactional linkages Other aspects of transactional linkages Links with third sector organisactions Links with local, regional and national government agencies. The paper will conclude with a review of the hypotheses and an integrated assessment of the impact of all kinds of networks on regional economic performance. The information presented in this paper has been derived from research funded by the EU Fifth Framework, as part of project QLK5-2000-00783 - Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy (AsPIRE)

Building a Typology of European Rural Areas for the Spatial Impact Assessment of Policies (TERA-SIAP)

Within the TERA-SIAP project, we developed a set of regional typologies (at NUTS3 level) which provide a suitable basis for Spatial Impact Assessments of a range of current and possible kinds of intervention (Generic Policy Issues) for rural areas. From a range of socio-economic models, we selected Regional Input-Output Models for the Spatial Impact Assessment of two Axis 3 measures (diversification of rural economy, and renovation and development of villages). One of the seven typologies developed, which focused on economic diversification, was used to identify a set of representative case study regions. The modelling results for the 16 case regions illustrated the fact that different types of rural economies are clearly associated with different patterns of policy impacts and that typologies can assist in the choice of appropriate representative regions. The combination of typologies and models are shown to have the potential to enhance the capacity for quantitative Spatial Impact Assessment of rural policy.JRC.DDG.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

What is place-based rural policy and what evidence base does it need?:Research and knowledge exchange activities

This report summarises some of the activities which have taken place within Objective 5 of a research project on place-based policy and service delivery in rural Scotland (RD3.4.2: ‘Place-based policy and its implications for policy and service delivery’ of the 2016-2021 Strategic Research Programme). Several of these activities have been primarily knowledge exchange activities, aiming to increase wider awareness of debates about place-based policy and encourage stakeholder discussion. This report also outlines the context to the work in Objective 5

Stakeholder views on the small area-level evidence base for place-based policy in Scotland

This report describes results from a survey, which delivered insights intohow to improve the accessibility of the ‘evidence base’ of information aboutScottish communities.Stakeholders perceive economic, transport, housing and service access issuesas most important to their local area, but also recognised issues related tocommunity strength and personal wellbeing. The lower awareness of availablelocal area-level data representative of the latter, and the broader interest inseveral issues, supports the need to publish small area-indicators related toseveral types of wellbeing, including more subjective issues.Associations between respondents’ backgrounds, experience with data useand analysis, and awareness of local-level data representing key issues,emphasise the need for data publishers to seriously consider the accessibilityand usability of resources, in addition to publishing large volumes of reusableinformation. Removing barriers to accessing and understanding informationabout communities is essential, in the context of place-based policies andlocal initiatives.Online resources for accessing data should cater for users with diverseexperience, and different needs: some users may need to view information forthe location they are interested in, while others may need to retrieve data formore detailed analysis or produce maps. There is a need for improvedcommunication, both in terms of interface design and the language used, andclarity over the areas which indicators have been calculated for.<br/