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The Reform of Cohesion Policy in the 2014–2020 Programming Period and the Regional Smart Specialization Strategy

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EU Regional and Urban Policy

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology ((BRIEFSPOLIMI))

Abstract

The chapter offers a reconstruction of the substantial changes that the logic, nature and implementation of EU cohesion policy (CP) has undergone in the last programming period. After presenting the socio-economic context in which this reform process took place, in terms of global trends as well as of the specific economic geography of the Union, it sets the conceptual debate that framed and shaped the directions pursued in the reforming process and explains the rationale, logic and main novelties introduced in the reformed CP. Next, the chapter explores one of the most relevant novelties introduced in this reform, i.e. the regional smart specialization strategy (RIS3), by highlighting its origins and its adaptation at the regional level, and draws some conclusions on the first stages of its application by pointing to the main challenges ahead in the implementation of the reformed CP and especially of RIS3, also in relation to different context conditions characterising different types of region.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This report has been produced on the basis of the consultations held in 2008 with panels of more than 40 experts from all over the world in the frame of the CP reform process launched by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner (McCann and Ortega-Argilés 2013a).

  2. 2.

    According to Barca (2009), the impossibility to achieve the targets should not be sanctioned but rather the absence of clear objectives, of transparency, of data provision, of monitoring and evaluation, of involvement of multiple stakeholders (McCann and Ortega-Argilés 2013a).

  3. 3.

    The 11 thematic objectives of CP for the 2014–2020 period are as follows: R&D and innovation, ICT, SMEs support, low-carbon economy, climate change adaptation, environment, network infrastructure, employment, social inclusion, education, good governance (EC 2014).

  4. 4.

    More information can be retrieved at http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/, last visited 16 July 2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DASTU, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Prof. Valeria Fedeli

  2. ABC, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Prof. Camilla Lenzi

  3. DASTU, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Prof. Paola Briata

  4. Regione Lombardia, Milan, Italy

    Dr. Luisa Pedrazzini

Authors
  1. Prof. Valeria Fedeli
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  2. Prof. Camilla Lenzi
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  3. Prof. Paola Briata
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  4. Dr. Luisa Pedrazzini
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Correspondence to Valeria Fedeli .

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Fedeli, V., Lenzi, C., Briata, P., Pedrazzini, L. (2020). The Reform of Cohesion Policy in the 2014–2020 Programming Period and the Regional Smart Specialization Strategy. In: EU Regional and Urban Policy. SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34575-4_2

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