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Integrated Territorial Investments and New Governance Models in Poland journal article

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.


Assessing Integrated Territorial and Urban Strategies journal article

Challenges, Emerging Approaches and Options for the Future

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.


New Implementation Mechanisms for Integrated Development Strategies in ESIF journal article

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.


Integrated Territorial Investment in the UK journal article

A Tale of Two Regions

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.


Integrated Territorial Investments in the Czech Republic: A New Tool for Metropolitian Areas journal article

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.


Sustainable Urban Development in Greece Using Integrated Territorial Investments journal article

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.


Finland’s ITI – The Six City Strategy Delivering Open and Smart Services in Partnership journal article

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.


From Projects to Transformations: Why Do Only Some Countries and Regions Advance? The Case of the Slovenian S4 journal article open-access

Peter Wostner

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 5 (2017), Issue 1, Page 84 - 96

The paper scrutinises the Smart Specialisation approach conceptually as well as its practical application in the case of Slovenian Smart Specialisation Strategy, the S4. It argues that Smart Specialisation still tends to be too narrowly applied and that its potential, on the EU level, is not yet fully exploited. The paper investigates where the roots of competitiveness in the modern world lie and argues that investment is a necessary but not a sufficient condition and that it is structural transformation that is at the heart of advancement. The Slovenian S4’s major contribution is not only in the setting of national priorities as regards innovation. What matters even more is that S4 is fundamentally transforming the way stakeholders on the ground interact with each other, creating value networks, but it is also transforming the way policy-making is done within the government. It is shifting the perception of the government as a source of financing to a facilitator of change. The paper demonstrates how fundamental is the difference between the financing of projects and the financing of policies. They are the flipside of the same coin as investment and structural transformation, with the former being a necessary but not sufficient condition for advancement of non-frontier regions and it is here that policies like Cohesion policy with their ex-ante conditionalities really make a difference. Finally, structural transformation is very hard to achieve, which is why putting external pressure for change but also a guarantee of longer term commitment through ex-ante conditionality, i.e. outside pressure, is critical.


RIS3 Implementation in Lagging Regions: Lessons from Eastern Macedonia and Thrace journal article

Mark Boden

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 5 (2017), Issue 1, Page 77 - 83

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission provides support to selected slow growth and less developed regions in the implementation of their Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). In addition to the envisaged impacts in these regions, this work also aims to generate wider lessons for RIS3 implementation across the EU. This article describes the approach and key outcomes of this RIS3 support activity in the Greek Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. Focused on the engagement of stakeholders across the region, this activity has sought to catalyse the entrepreneurial discovery process in the region, identifying and developing ideas and partnerships for research and innovation projects. It has examined the development of technical and administrative capacities necessary to advance RIS as well as the structures and processes for effective and appropriate RIS3 governance. This work has led to the development of a “tool box” to support RIS3 implementation. This toolbox is currently being developed and further refined and developed for application in less favoured regions across the EU.


RIS3 in the French Research and Innovation Context journal article

Maud Pelletier

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 5 (2017), Issue 1, Page 53 - 68

The concept of smart specialisation has been applied in France at the regional level in the Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3), in changing national and regional contexts and with highly different innovation ecosystems. The process of designing the RIS3 gave every region an opportunity to set out and clarify its specific characteristics, assets and positioning in terms of innovation. It also enables the regions to adopt an entrepreneurial discovery approach which mobilises the region’s innovation ecosystem, based on a shared strategy. Designing a strategy, however, is only a first stage in carrying out a successful smart specialisation process. This process is meant to cover the entire 2014-2020 programming period and there are still many stages to go through to ensure that these strategies benefit to French regions and that their impacts are harnessed locally. The impacts of RIS3, which are integrated in a broader policy framework in the field of research and innovation, will also depend on how strongly linked they are to other European policies (such as ESIF programmes, Horizon 2020, COSME, etc.), but also national policies (such as Investment programme for the future, the new industrial France, clusters policies, the New Deal for Innovation, etc.) and regional policies. This is obviously a long term changing process that will take time to produce its full benefits for the regional innovation and economic ecosystems, as well as for the territories and their inhabitants. It is therefore early to assess the real impacts and value added of smart specialisation. Nevertheless, looking ahead in terms of the overall smart specialisation approach, some conclusions and questions can be highlighted for this policy in a post-2020 perspective.