A new Challenge for Regional Policy-Making in Europe? Chances and Risks of the Merger Between Cohesion and Innovation Policy

Abstract

Taking the implications of the cohesion policy framework for innovation governance as a starting point, it is the objective of this paper to discuss the challenges for regional policy-making with regard to a policy mix that is new to regional policy-makers. Based on two German regions representing “convergence” and “competitive and employment” regions it will be discussed how regional policy-makers can deal with this new policy approach and what could be the appropriate strategies, programmes and learning tools. What can be seen from both the Bavarian and the Saxony case studies is that the two regions apply a broad mix of different innovation policy measures, supporting all innovation policy tasks with relevance to the regional development. In both regions, innovation policy is not a new task, but Saxony as well as Bavaria can look back to a quite a long tradition in the implementation of this policy. Differences exist with regard to policy-learning in a way that, due the longer innovation policy experiences of Bavaria, more sophisticated structures and activities can be found in this federal state.

Notes

Bavaria hosts 16 universities, among them 11 public and 5 private. In addition, 11 art academies, 17 universities of applied sciences, 11 Max Planck institutes, 10 Fraunhofer institutes and 23 technology-oriented start-up centres are located in Bavaria. Most of the higher education institutes are located in Munich.