Lynn-Livia Fynn (p), Kim Pollermann

Marek Pieniazek

Innovation is seen as a crucial factor for regional development, specifically in facing challenges relating to economic growth and demographic change. For this reason, fostering innovation is an important part of the agenda when it comes to funding policy. One funding instrument, which supports innovation in rural areas, is the community development initiative, LEADER.
LEADER follows a bottom-up, participatory approach to rural development driven by cross-sectoral cooperation and collective decision-making within a so-called “Local Action Group” (LAG) in each LEADER region. Each LAG is allocated a budget to support the implementation of projects in line with its local development strategy, which states the distinct objectives for development in the respective region.
While LEADER was in itself a social innovation through its mode of policy delivery, it also promotes the implementation of innovative ideas for solutions to rural challenges. In the context of LEADER, innovations generally refer to new products or services, processes, strategies, forms of organisation or cooperation or their adaptation to new geographical or environmental contexts. Therefore, innovations in the LEADER context must not be complete novelties per se but rather entail an approach that is new to the region. Also of relevance is the ability of the innovation to diffuse into other areas facing similar challenges.
In our work, we examine LEADER in four German federal states, aiming to identify factors that foster the successful overall implementation of LEADER in term of both the process and the results. Our research gives various indications of innovative approaches being implemented through LEADER projects. Surveys of beneficiaries of LEADER funding show relatively high proportions of innovative projects (between 44 % and 66 %) in all four federal states. The aim of this contribution is to highlight a few of these projects and their contributions to (sustainable) local development in areas such as mobility, the provision of local services and amenities, nature conservation and strengthening the rural economy. Insights into the origins of the various project ideas, their implementation process and outcomes are derived from case studies conducted in eight LEADER regions.
The in-depth analyses of different projects in this qualitative approach provides detailed insights on the parameters necessary for the successful implementation of innovative projects through LEADER. This complements quantitative data from different LEADER surveys, thus enabling us to determine which framework conditions are required to help facilitate new approaches to improving the living conditions in the rural areas.

Simone Sasso (p), Michal MIEDZINSKI

Lynn-Livia Fynn

There is considerable academic research and growing policy interest in sustainability transitions. There is, however, less focus on specific challenges and opportunities of transition pathways for rural areas. A research gap exists in how we conceptualize transition pathways in rural settings and measure transformative innovation capacities in European rural regions. This paper brings together various systemic perspectives on sustainability transitions relevant to rural settings, such as social-ecological resilience, socio-technical transitions, climate adaptation, and sustainable approaches to spatial planning, land use, and agriculture. It addresses the research gap by first consolidating and synthesizing existing research on sustainability transitions in rural regions and then by developing a conceptual framework that links transition pathways with rural innovation and place-based innovation capacities. This framework can serve as a tool to help regions understand the innovation capacities required to embark on alternative transition pathways. It focuses on three key elements: (i) characteristics and dynamics of rural transition pathways, firmly rooted in socio-technical system thinking and social-ecological resilience, (ii) the role of innovation in rural sustainability transitions, and (iii) innovation capacities that predispose rural territories to benefit from transition opportunities and adapt to emerging and future societal challenges.

Luigi Buzzacchi, Federico Caviggioli, Antonio De Marco (p), Francesco Milone

Simone Sasso

It is well known that the specialization trajectories of regions follow non-ergodic path-dependent evolution processes: new industrial sectors, technological fields, and scientific domains do not emerge accidentally in a geographical area but are closely tied to the pre-existing mix of locally available economic activities and knowledge (e.g., Neffke et al., 2011; Boschma et al., 2013; van den Berge and Weterings, 2014). The recent empirical literature on the dynamics of technological specialization has found that the entry of universities into a new sector is positively correlated to the corresponding subsequent specialization of companies that are located within the same region (e.g., Acosta et al., 2009; Braunerhjelm, 2008; Calderini and Scellato, 2005; Caviggioli et al., 2022; Coronado et al., 2017). Nevertheless, the presence of a causal nexus between the technological activities of higher education institutions and the specialization of the local system of innovation has not been fully documented yet.
In this study, we aim to fill this research gap and provide a twofold contribution to the extant literature. First, specific econometric techniques will be employed to empirically test whether the specialization of innovative activities performed by firms in a region is caused by the novel scientific and technological knowledge that has been previously generated by local universities. To this aim, the empirical analysis will also consider the potential indirect effect of innovation-related positive externalities propagating from spatially contiguous geographical areas. The second element of novelty lies in the use of an improved characterization of the technological space: patent fields are not treated as equally distant from one another; instead, we consider the heterogeneity of the reciprocal proximities between them. This approach operationalizes the concept proposed by Hidalgo et al. (2007) and provides a more accurate definition for the topological structure and properties of the networks that constrain innovation processes. Within such a theoretical framework, it is possible to control for contiguity not only in geographical terms but also technologically and incorporate the construct of relatedness (e.g., Boschma et al., 2015; Essletzbichler, 2015; Kogler et al., 2013; Rigby, 2015) to measure the relative affinity of between a region and a technology field.
The empirical setting is quantitative and relies on a rich dataset of patents geo-localized in European regions at the third level of the NUTS system. The results will be discussed in light of the policy implications for stimulating and supporting innovation activities of universities and firms at the regional level.

Marek Pieniazek (p)

Antonio De Marco

Sustainable regional development requires constant dialogue between citizens and their authorities. The outcome of this dialogue should be evidence-based policies. However, in the modern world we are faced with a flood of unconfirmed information. Therefore, quick access to official statistical data is becoming increasingly important. Access to data allows not only to eliminate disinformation from the media. Thanks to easily available official data, it is possible to compare the parameters of public services provision by various local units. Thus, citizens can become more consciously involved in establishing public policies. The problem is that comparison is often a challenge that requires knowledge and skill.

The speech will present an innovative approach to supporting regional development implemented by Statistics Poland. Promoting dialogue and providing verified data is part of the mission of official statistics. That is why the Public Services Monitoring System (SMUP) was built. Educational data will be presented regarding the differences in quality, availability and financial effectiveness of providing services in the field of primary and secondary education on . Thanks to SMUP data, it is possible to explain large variations in costs on a regional scale.

SMUP contains information on 9 areas of services provided by communes and poviats as well as information on the area of local government finances. In total, there are over 750 indicators describing 65 services. The System collects data on areas such as education; local social policy; culture; transport; environmental grotection; real estate management; construction; Geodesy; local finances and local fees.

The system enables improved management of public funds at the local level. Local government organizations estimate that an improvement of only 1-2% of the total annual expenditure of Polish municipalities translates into the equivalent of EUR 0.5-1 billion in benefits nationwide.