Andreas P. Cornett

Aims and strategies in regional innovation and growth policy: A Danish perspective

Innovations and the capacity to innovate are crucial factors for regional development. Regional growth is not an exogenous or independent phenomenon, but more or less ‘derived’ from the ability of the local business to perform and generate income. For this reason, attention has been on the factors facilitating growth and the mechanisms stimulating innovative behaviour in large, small and medium-sized enterprises. This paper aims to analyse the changing development strategies and policy set-up in Denmark with regard to regional development and innovation. Core elements are to improve the abilities for knowledge dissemination, innovation, and local entrepreneurship. The analysis provides a closer look into the role of innovation in regional policy, and which type of policies can stimulate innovative activities in business and industry. Recent examples from Denmark representing new approaches to the implementation of innovative development measures are presented and evaluated. Finally, the main results are presented with special attention to organizational and functional aspects of a knowledge-based regional development policy. Among the results are that untraditional measures are needed in particular if innovation policy should reach SMEs and firms not located adjacent to knowledge institutions.

Regional Economic Integration in the Baltic Rim: Towards a European Region after Ten Years of Transition?

A view back in history proves that the Baltic Sea region was one of the centers of trade in commerce in Europe. The Vikings and later the Hanseatic League, a loose confederation originally of north German cities, gradually developed into a trading system covering most of Northern Europe with its stronghold in the Baltic Sea area. The League reached its peak of influence in the 14th century with a maximum of nearly 100 cities as members, but lost importance gradually. By 1630, most of the towns had deserted the alliance, but the spirit of the Hanse is still alive today, mainly as a framework for twin-city agreements. The Baltic Rim continued to be a regional area of commerce with intensive links between the countries and to the European Hinterlands.

A critical assessment of the added value of territorial cohesion

This paper, by drawing on various interpretations or storylines of territorial cohesion and by referring to the national policy contexts in Denmark and Germany, critically assesses the concept of territorial cohesion and its added value by exploring what difference the formal recognition of territorial cohesion makes for EU, national and regional policymaking in terms of adapted policy objectives, altered perceptions of territory and place and modified policy instruments. It is argued herein that even though territorial cohesion obviously changes the rationales underlying the cohesion policies and strategic European spatial development policies by emphasising the potential of territorial capital for innovation and employment, the concept of territorial capital is not completely new. Some of the objectives or meanings can be found in former EU cohesion or spatial development policies; additionally, some EU member states such as Denmark have pursued this type of strategy since the early 1990s. Additionally, in Germany, instruments for social and economic cohesion already cover territorial aspects, meaning that the added value of the concept of territorial cohesion can critically be questioned. Furthermore, Denmark and Germany are both sceptical with regard to the introduction of new funding priorities and instruments; the old ones obviously work sufficiently as convergence among regions could be achieved from a country-by-country perspective. Nevertheless, an important advantage of the concept of territorial cohesion is that it offers added value for rethinking current (spatial) policies, strategies and instruments in EU member states that do not have such a long tradition or established system of spatial development policies. From this perspective, the concept of territorial cohesion has sharpened the attention paid to the territorial implications of European policies from a broader perspective, and thus it may serve as a conceptual tool to deal with these issues, not only from an economic but also from a spatial planning and policy coordination perspective.

Regional Cohesion In An Enlarged European Union- An Analysis Of Interregional Specialization And Integration

In an era of globalization of business and industry economic analysis often focuses on international transactions and organizational changes. Competition between the key-regions of the world is a major topic in international economics and business. Behind the shell of smart business concepts and self-promotion of metropolitan districts and regions, these tendencies raise the question of national and regional coherence. Particularly in a period of redistribution of economic and political power from the traditional nation-state toward supranational actors like the EU or through privatization to non-governmental bodies, the problem of interregional disparities has been highlighted. The issue of cohesion in regional economic associations like the EU becomes a decisive issue for further integration. Particularly in the more advanced forms of economic integration the issue of redistributive instruments becomes crucial (Molle 1999, pp. 146–150).

Commercial Relations in the Baltic Rim Region in an Integration/Network Perspective

The European political and economic map has changed tremendously since 1989. One consequence has been that the North and East of Europe has become the focus of attention again, in comparison the eighties, when Mediterranean problems were more in focus. The purpose of this analysis is to give an outline of the perspectives of development in the economic and commercial relations between the Baltic Sea rim states. The basic thesis of our analysis is that, in contrast to the history of Western European integration since the late fifties, in which economic relations developed ahead of political and institutional cooperation, the recent process in East and Central Europe is more or less occurring in the opposite order.

Cluster development policy as a tool in regional development and competitiveness policy: theoretical concepts and empirical evidence

The contributions in this volume extend our understanding about the different ways distance impacts the knowledge conversion process. Knowledge itself is a raw input into the innovation process which can then transform it into an economically useful output such as prototypes, patents, licences and new companies. New knowledge is often tacit and thus tends to be highly localized, as indeed is the conversion process. Consequently, as the book demonstrates, space or distance matter significantly in the transformation of raw knowledge into beneficial knowledge.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Danish Regional Policy

Perhaps the most exceptional aspect of the current era of globalisation is that entrepreneurship has become the engine for local processes of economic, social and cultural development throughout the world. This important new book brings together a number of leading scholars in the field to explore the development aspects of globalisation, in particular those that foster the evolution of entrepreneurs in local–global processes.

Globalization, international spillovers and sectoral changes: an introduction: Implications for Regions and Industries

As a consequence of globalization, news, ideas and knowledge are moving quickly across national borders and generating international spillovers. So too, however, are economic and financial crises. ...

Inter- and Intraregional Balance: Drivers of Change and Development

Today we can observe an increasing spatial divide as some large urban regions and many more medium-sized and small regions face growing problems such as decreasing labour demand, increasing unemployment and an ageing population. In view of these trends, this book offers a better understanding of the general characteristics and specific drivers of the geographies of growth. It shows how these may vary in different spatial contexts, how hurdles and barriers to growth in different types of regions can be dealt with, how and to what extent resources in different areas can develop, and how the potential of these resources to stimulate growth can be realized.

Economic integration in a cross border perspective - An emerging new system of production?

The economic development of regions is today closely determined by the linkages and networks to external partners as well as their own Hinterlands. Main focus in this paper is on issues related to changes in the system of production, in regional as well as international, and a cross border perspective. Empirically the analysis is based on results from a project analyzing regional development in the Baltic Sea Regions. Issues addressed are spatial impacts of alterations in the economic linkages in the BSR since the transition process started in the aftermath of the break down of the iron curtain. Theoretically the concepts applied are based on economic integration and location. An analytical framework is sketched in the first part of the paper. The second section provides a brief introduction to the economic development in the regions considered, including an assessment of cross border flows, i.e. trade and FDI. Part three is devoted to an analysis of changes in the regional production system with regard to manufacture, and the implication for regional economic performance and employment in the out-sourcing regions as well as in in-sourcing regions. In addition, the issue of ‘re-outsourcing’ is addressed. The latter deals with western companies considering moving production facilities out of the BSR region into areas with lower production costs. The final section summarizes the result with regard to relocation i.e. in border-areas, within the BSR or in a global perspective. Impacts on employment is evaluated as well the paper addresses witch branches in particular are at risk to loose economic weight in the BSR as a consequence of changes in the international division of labor.