Arno van der Zwet, John Bachtler

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 3 - 12

This article provides an overview of the mechanisms that are used to implement integrated territorial development strategies in the 2014-20 ESIF programme period. It is based on the research conducted as part of a European Commission project which examined the added value of integrated territorial and urban strategies. It sets out how ESIF funding is being used to support integrated development strategies. The article also considers the different rationales for selecting a type of implementation mechanism. The final section will consider some of the conclusions and policy recommendations made as part of the study in relation to the specific implementation mechanisms.

Marie Feřtrová

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 13 - 19

This article reviews how the Czech Republic is implementing sustainable urban development (SUD) strategies in 2014-20 as a part of ERDF Regulation Article 7 requirements, through the use of Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs). The article provides an overview of preparation of these instruments in the Czech Republic and how they are being implemented. The specific case of the Brno metropolitan area is used to provide a detailed example at local level of the operationalisation of SUD and ITI instruments, along with policy recommendations gathered from implementation experience so far.

Eleftherios Antonopoulos

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 28 - 34

This article reviews how Greece is implementing sustainable urban development (SUD) strategies in 2014-20 as a part of ERDF Regulation Article 7 requirements, through the use of Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs). The article provides an overview of the current status of these instruments in Greece and how they are being implemented. The specific case of Patras is used to provide a detailed example at local level of the operationalisation of SUD and ITI instruments, along with policy recommendations gathered from implementation experience so far.

Heidi Vironen

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 20 - 27

This article reviews how Finland is implementing its sustainable urban development (SUD) strategy in 2014-20 as a part of ERDF Regulation Article 7 requirements, through the use of an Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) called the ‘Six City Strategy’. The article provides a detailed analysis of the Six City Strategy, describing its development, implementation and progress, and distilling some elements of good practice and lessons learned from this unique city network approach.

Martin Ferry, Sylwia Borkowska-Waszak

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 35 - 50

This article reviews how Poland is implementing Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) and sustainable urban development (SUD) strategies. Enhancing integrated, partnership-based approaches to the governance of urban development initiatives is seen by policy-makers as an important added value in these initiatives in Poland, as traditions of inter-municipal cooperation are weak and there are few instruments that provide incentives to Polish local authorities to coordinate their investments. The article provides an overview of the current status of these instruments in Poland and how they are being implemented. It compares the cases of two SUD strategies in Katowice and Lublin that have adopted different implementation models, providing detailed examples at local level of the operationalisation of SUD, along with policy recommendations gathered from implementation experience so far.

Martin Ferry, Irene McMaster

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 58 - 67

This article is based on a research carried out for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. The importance of assessing the impact and results of public policy interventions is clear. The Commission expects integrated, place-based strategies and their interventions to be developed with results in mind. For reasons of accountability and efficiency, policy-makers, stakeholders and beneficiaries require knowledge and understanding of the progress and effectiveness of the strategies. It is, therefore, important to gather information with which to better understand the role of the interventions and an evidence base comparable to other interventions. However, measuring effectiveness presents several challenges, related to the specific characteristics of these strategies and to the fact that, at least in some Member States, integrated approaches to territorial and urban development are relatively new. Against this background, this article explores the challenges involved in assessing the achievements of integrated place-based strategies and reviews existing methodological approaches to assessing territorial provisions under Cohesion policy and under urban development. It then explores emerging approaches to the assessment of territorial and urban strategies launched under the territorial provisions set out for 2014-2020. Looking forward, the article then outlines options for developing frameworks for future assessments before presenting conclusions and recommendations on a framework and approach for measuring effectiveness.

Stephen Miller, Arno van der Zwet

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 51 - 57

This article reviews how the UK is implementing Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) as part of the Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) agenda in 2014-20, in line with ERDF Article 7 requirements and the use of ITI outwith the Article 7 requirements. This article provides an overview of the current status of these instruments in the UK and how they are being implemented. The specific case of London is used to provide a detailed example at local level of the operationalisation of SUD using the ITI instruments. This is compared with the ITI in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly which is implemented as a non-SUD ITI. The article reflects on the main differences between the two approaches and their policy implications.

Georgios Peroulakis

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 5 (2017), Issue 1, Page 12 - 19

The 2014-2020 ESIF programmes marked an important turn on results-orientation and resource-concentration in areas where a competitive advantage is identified and critical mass can be built. The objective is clear: to create investment which can produce a higher impact in terms of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs. With regard to smart growth, Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3s) are paving the way for the economic transformation of EU regions based on knowledge and innovation. By being one of the many ex-ante conditionalities, the Smart specialisation strategies are embedded in the new operational programmes of assistance to the European regions. Bottom-up decisions were facilitated by introducing the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) in the design cycle. This made effective the collaboration between Triple/Quadruple Helix actors in the adoption of the RIS3s and the design of the OPs and calls in a majority of EU Regions. The conceptual, regulatory and programming phases took quite a long time but now, at around half way into the 2014-2020 period, we enter in to the implementation stage. Over 120 Smart specialisation strategies have been submitted to the European Commission during the negotiations of operational programmes establishing priorities and allocating funds at national or regional level. Allocations of circa €40 billion from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will mobilise an estimated amount of circa €250 billion to support the RIS3s, including other ESI Funds, national and regional public funds, private investments, resources from Horizon2020, COSME and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) – Investment Plan for Europe. What really matters now is to proceed with the implementation, so as to transform strategies into projects, not allowing sliding back into “business as usual”. The credibility of the Smart specialisation concept and of the EU Institutions that promoted it is at stake as is the future development of EU Regions

Dimitrios Kyriakou

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 5 (2017), Issue 1, Page 4 - 11

We emphasise the need of keeping in mind the definition/focus of the smart specialisation strategy (S3) approach regarding place-based regional economic transformation, as well as the importance of avoiding both the Charybdis of top-down dirigisme, and the Scylla of hands-off handicapped government. Short-termism should be avoided for transformation processes; nevertheless, there are certain visible first steps and first fruits in a long regional economic transformation process can be highlighted (such as compliance with ex-ante conditionalities, strategy production, administrative innovation, revisiting compartmentalisation, etc.). An additional promising development regards the attractiveness of S3 as a more generally transposable policy framework, applicable in other policy areas, as well as the global interest, far beyond the EU, that is being shown in the S3 process/concept. At the same time, one must beware of longer-term, deeper caveats regarding top-down temptations, simplistic one-size-fits-all recipes, and issues of participation/representation-giving voice to the voiceless.

Rhys Davies, Jennifer Alstrom, Kathryn Helliwell, Tom Smithson

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 5 (2017), Issue 2, Page 155 - 160

This article explores the use of a large scale telephone survey to evaluate the ESF Programmes in Wales. It firstly describes the structure of the ESF Programmes in Wales. It then describes the survey (known as the ‘ESF Leavers Survey’) and the Counterfactual Impact Evaluation (CIE) undertaken using data from it. Finally, the article discusses the CIE findings and links these to wider research and evaluation evidence on the effectiveness of interventions aimed at assisting people to find employment. The article suggests that, in the short-term, Employability Support and Engagement Signposting can be very effective types of support. It also suggests that support for those recently made redundant can result in high deadweight in terms of entry to employment but can help such people find better paid work than they would otherwise have done. The article suggests that the impact of Basic Skills Training may take a while to materialise but that it is worth persevering with this kind of support given other evidence on its longer-term effectiveness. The article concludes by discussing some of the weaknesses in the analysis and the steps being taken to improve this work in the future.