ESPON Workshop

“Territorial Dimensions of the Europe 2020 Strategy”

Brussels, 30 September 2013

Timing: 9h30 – 14h00

Background and objectives

The Europe 2020 Strategy was launched in 2010 by the European Commission and represents the European Union’s growth strategy until 2020. As Europe seeks to emerge from the consequences of the economic crisis, the role of European regions in supporting ‘smart sustainable and inclusive growth’ is becoming ever more relevant.

Regions and cities are facing different combinations of development challenges and growth potentials. There are rather differentiated territorial patterns and specific territorial characteristics, influencing the development of regions. The Territorial Agenda 2020 takes this aspect into consideration by promoting ‘place-based strategies developed locally to address local conditions’. The 7th progress report on economic, social and territorial cohesion assesses how, in the context of Cohesion Policy, regions and cities can contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and Europe 2020 headline targets. This is one of the main reasons Cohesion Policy uses an integrated approach that can be adjusted to local needs and opportunities.

Therefore, there is a need to identify and further exploit available resources and territorial potentials, which can be used in achieving the European policy targets at national and regional levels.

Aim and Structure

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This ESPON workshop, which was jointly organised by ESPON, the Mission of Norway to the EU, as well as the West and South Norway Regional Offices in Brussels, addressed the territorial dimension of the Europe 2020 Strategy and contribution of the European regions to reach the Europe 2020 headline targets, taking account of specific characteristics of the European regions.

cover The latest ESPON publication, the ESPON Atlas on the “Territorial Dimensions of the Europe 2020 Strategy” was the basis for the workshop. It provides new evidence on the situation of the European regions in relation to the policy targets and it allows for benchmarking among regions in Europe. This new evidence is an important element for the discussion and debate among policy makers on how regions can support in the best possible way the objectives of Europe 2020 Strategy.

A round table discussion involving key policy-makers at European and regional levels informed on their perceptions, ambitions and expectations with regard to the implementation and possible contribution of the European regions to European Union’s growth strategy until 2020. It also gave the opportunity to discuss place-based policy options for the elaboration of territorial development strategies.

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Conclusions

Conclusions of the day included:

ESPON evidence on the position of the regions in the European context and benchmarking against neighboring regions is considered very useful. It supports the selection of investment priorities in regions, as well as the identification of complementarities and synergies with other (neighboring) regions.
Macro-economic elements play an important role in regional growth and the situation of the regions needs also to be considered in relation to global economic trends.
Concrete actions are already being implemented on the ground in various European regions in the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Particular emphasis was given to the “smart and innovation strategies” in place in Emilia Romagna and South of Norway. However smart specialization strategies need “smart” administrations.
Additional efforts and actions in getting more up-to-date data for territorial analysis are needed in order to be able to quickly react and adjust policy interventions on real time.

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Further information

Please find below the programme of the workshop and the presentations shown.
Photos 6-12: courtesy Stian Mathisen, Information Officer Mission of Norway to the EU.
More photos here.
Contact the ESPON Coordination Unit at [email protected] for additional details.

This Workshop is organised within the framework of the ESPON 2013 Capitalisation Strategy / Actions related to European Seminars and Workshops