While innovation has become key issue for the wealth and prosperity of the regions, quantitative data and a number of research reports have established that the geographical distribution of technological and innovative effort in the European Union is extremely unequal. Many of the factors sustaining innovation, Research and Technological Development in particular, are unevenly distributed between EU regions.
Geographical polarisation of innovation factors
| GDP per head (1993) | |||||||||
| Unemployment % (1993) | |||||||||
| GERD as % of GDP (1990) | |||||||||
| BERD as % of GDP (1990) | |||||||||
| Government RTD as % of budget (1988) | |||||||||
| RTD scientists per 1000 labour force |
Source: Commission of European Community 1994 (GDP: Gross Domestic Product, GERD: Gross Expenditure in Research and Development, BERD: Business Expenditure in Research and Development)
The previous table indicates that regional disparities in factors of innovation (RTD, BERD, R&D scientists) are far more important than disparities in GDP and unemployment (cohesion gap):
The Community four weakest members (Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland) have RD expenditure levels which are two to three times lower than the Community average. The gap in terms of gross R&D expenditure is 1 to 6, while in terms of income per head is 1 to 2,5.
Business expenditure for R&D in Greece and Portugal are one tenth of the community average, and 15 to 20 times lower than in France and Germany. State expenditure for R&D, in the same countries, is one fourth of the community average.
R&D personnel in Greece and Portugal is only one quarter to one fifth of the same personnel in the more advanced states, and one third of the community average.
The "technology gap" becomes important both in quantitative terms and in terms of effects on the convergence process, since it reproduces the conditions of uneven development. The innovation capacity of less developed regions cross dynamically the cohesion process, as regional disparities are nurtured by disparities in technology and innovation. This correlation has introduced a clear interest for the diffusion of technology and innovation, both in the framework of R&D programmes, and the regional and cohesion policy of the European Commission.
Regional policies for innovation support
Innovation and technology diffusion in less developed regions were supported by various actions of the R&D framework programmes targeting on research and technology dissemination (SPRINT, Value, Innovation Programme, etc.), the Community Support Frameworks, and the Community Initiatives designed to encourage R&D in peripheral regions. However, the implementation of innovation and technology support programmes in the less developed regions has been limited. In Objective 1 Regions only 2.7% of resources from the structural funds were channelled into R&D, while in Objective 2 Regions this fraction was substantially higher, reaching 9.3%.
For the period 1994-99, the European Commission has decided to increase the amount of the structural funds and to provide technical assistance for developing regional research and technological development strategies. In this perspective, a number of innovative regional actions has been designed or extended, such as the Science Parks Consultancy Scheme, the Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Infrastructures and Strategies, the Regional Technology Plans and the Regional Innovation Strategies (see Diagram 1.1.).
The implementation of these strategies is a positive step beyond comparative advantage strategies, focusing on exploitation of lower labour costs, which were the usual policies in the less developed regions. But, they encounter significant obstacles, both on the level of applied research and technology supply as well as on the level of the demand for R&D and the understanding of the capability of R&TD to increase business competitiveness.
Diagram 1.1: Innovative Measures of ERDF Article 10 and Innovation Programme
Regional Technology Plans (RTP) are part of this concern. They use research and technology development policy in order to promote economic development, to increase productivity and competitiviness, and to reduce inequalities among the European regions.
The RTP concept
The objectives of the RTP are twofold. One the one hand, to encourage regions to develop regional innovation strategies and to improve the capacity of regional actors to make policies which take into account the real needs of the productive sector and the strengths and capabilities of the regional RTD community. On the other hand, to provide a framework for both the regions and the European Community for optimising policy decisions regarding future investments in RTD initiatives at the regional level. In this sense, elaborating an RTP may accelerate the process to receive financing for RTD projects through the Structural Funds and adapt better these projects to the regional technology and innovation needs.
As defined in the RTP Guide Book, each Plan ought to reflect specific orientations:
- a bottom-up approach, giving emphasis on the regional technology demand and SMEs,
- a regional approach, focusing at the development of a territorial entity on the basis of a consensus between the government, the private sector, the universities and the research centres,
- a strategic approach, combining the analysis of the regional technological development and the definition of long-term priorities and short-term actions,
- an integrated approach, linking the efforts of the public and private sectors towards the common goal of increasing regional productivity and competitiviness,
- an international approach, considering the global market trends and enhancing international technology and economic co-operation.
However, the meaning of regional competitiviness is rather different than the usual economic meaning of the word. Regional competitiveness is understood as the capacity of the region to attract and maintain firms with stable or increasing market shares in an activity while maintaining stable or increasing standards of living for those who participate in it. This capacity is based on the resources available in the region, the established physical infrastructures, and the integration of activities at the local level. The following diagram 1.2. presents RTP's operation and fields of action.
RTP operation and field of action
Regional Technology Plans (renamed Regional Innovation Strategies) are supported jointly by DG XVI (Regional Policy and Cohesion - ERDF article 10) and DG XIII (Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research - The Innovation Programme) of the European Commission.
