Paving the (Hard) Way for Regional Partnerships: Evidence from Portugal

ABSTRACT

A fundamental dilemma which troubles advocates of interinstitutional partnerships in regional development pertains to the extent to which partnerships enhance the effectiveness of governance processes and outcomes. This dilemma is particularly relevant in contexts that lack strong cohesive regional development alliances, such as the Portuguese case. This article aims to shed light on the debate regarding the role of partnerships in regional development, drawing on a unique collaborative interinstitutional partnership. It explores the responses to complexity across the different stakeholders, as well as its effects at the formulation and implementation stages of the strategic plans devised to apply for EU funding. Findings suggest that interinstitutional partnerships induce significantly different allocative choices at the agenda-setting. However, the established partnership was unable to cope with the several obstacles that emerged during the implementation, suggesting several vulnerabilities of partnerships, which are explored. Findings suggest the need to reinforce governance mechanisms during the implementation stage.

KEYWORDS:

• Local government
• higher education institutions
• interinstitutional partnerships
• European structural funds
• regional development

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCiD

Patrícia Silva http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7044-2723

Filipe Teles http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5059-368X

Artur Rosa Pires http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2749-1607

Notes

1. See the White Book on the Local Corporate Public Sector, available at http://www.nedal.uminho.pt/0_content/lb_-_sel.pdf.

2. See Law 51/2011, 15 November.

3. See PORDATA, the Database of Contemporary Portugal, available at https://www.pordata.pt/en/Portugal/Enterprises+in+the+corporate+public+sector-2994.

4. The CIRA, also known as Aveiro Region Intermunicipal Community, is located in the north/central west coast of Portugal and includes 11 municipalities (Águeda, Albergaria-a-Velha, Anadia, Aveiro, Estarreja, Ílhavo, Murtosa, Oliveira do Bairro, Ovar, Sever do Vouga and Vagos).

5. In order to estimate the impact of amendments to the global grant initially contracted, we analysed the last addendum to the global contract signed between the Managing Authority and the CIRA, to 30 August 2012, in order to compare the values included in it and those that had been initially set.

6. More information on the Aveiro Digital, can be consulted in http://www.aveiro-digital.pt/.

7. More information on the Project Unir@Ria can be consulted in http://www.regiaodeaveiro.pt/PageGen.aspx?WMCM_PaginaId=29289&projectoId=20.

8. These protocols are publicly available at http://www.regiaodeaveiro.pt/PageGen.aspx?WMCM_PaginaId=29820. It is worth highlighting the purposefully chosen designations for these protocols: “Commitment with the future of the region” (2009), “Better cooperation, more future” (2009) and “Aveiro 2020: Innovative and competitive region” (2014). It can be denoted an evolution from a commitment to a cooperative partnership, while in the last protocol these concepts seem to be embedded in the idea of an innovative and competitive region.

9. Until December 2011, Portugal had received 5 billion euros, with an execution rate of 23.1%. These measures were aimed at achieving an implementation of 40% of the NSRF in late 2011.

10. The president of the CIRA was also the president of a municipality, which had to deal with the financial and governmental pressures to implement projects and in May 2009 the Pro-rector of the University was appointed as consultant of the President of the Republic.

11. These projects were mainly related to the use of sustainability as a differentiation factor in local/ regional competitiveness. The most prominent projects were the ‘Water efficiency model for buildings and public spaces’ (approved in 2009), an application to the ‘Urban Networks for Competitiveness and Innovation’ (in July 2009) and the Creative Science Park – Aveiro Region.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this article was financed by the Project ‘Alianças Territoriais para a Inovação’, funded through the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) and co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) [grant number ATFDR-01-0273-FEDER-000033].