Interregional Cooperation Helping overcome Challenges in the EU
Cooperation between regions is important in the face of new challenges, but also new opportunities brought on by the EU's enlargement. To promote interregional cooperation, Germany's Saxony, Austria's Styria, northern Hungary and Slovenia initiated a project called REVITAE.
The project (the name stands for Restructuring, Economic development and Vitalisation supported by Innovation and Technology-transfer Activities and the Extension of cooperation) was presented at a two-day conference that opened at the lakeside resort of Bled on Thursday.
According to the head of the EUR 1.651 million worth project Thomas Richter, the aim is to set up and boost interregional cooperation and to promote networking and clustering. The programme involves six partners form the four regions.
They are set to encourage cooperation between innovation and technological centres, small and medium-sized companies, large companies and institutions involved in education and R&D.
The partners share their experiences and best practice in terms of strategy and technology, and encourage innovation through the transfer of expertise and interregional cooperation. The objective is to organise workshops and events for administrative officials, institutions promoting entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized companies.
Representatives of all four regions outlined national policies and incentives for entrepreneurs at plenary session. Reza Michael Azodanloo of Styria explained that networking and clustering in this Austrian region was well-developed, in particular in the automotive sector.
The region has 22 technological centres comprising 200 companies with a total of 2,400 employees. As much as 2.5% of GDP is invested in research and development, which is high above the EU average of 1.92%.
Austria, the leading direct investor in Slovenia and Croatia, has made it its key goal to increase exports by at least 50%. The country is successful in attracting money from EU funds. "If we can get some money from Brussels, we'll get it. We have done most projects in cooperation with Slovenia," Azodanloo said.
Saxony has been posting the highest economic growth among German regions over the past five years, according to the representative of this region Barbara Mayer. She believes that industrial countries can improve their competitive ability all the time.
The region saw a transition from Communism into Capitalism in the early 1990s. First it had to privatise companies and create the conditions for the initiation of new ones. Apart from the economic promotion agency and a number of other similar institutions, the region also established banks that offer favourable loans to companies, Mayer said.
According to her, the region is troubled by low productivity, inadequate capital resources and high, 20% unemployment, while it also faces a lack of highly-educated workforce for technologically-advanced companies. Mayer sees a solution for jobs in small companies.
Hungary too expects small and medium-sized companies to create new jobs. Such companies represent 99.9% of all companies and employ 56.8% of the country's labour force, but the value added they create is only 39.4%. Tamas Balogh of the Hungarian Ministry of Economy and Transport said this figure would have to increase.
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