Innovation through integration in territorial policies for the Adriatic-Ionian region

378 Pages·2016·13.41 MB·English

Innovation through integration
in territorial policies for the
Adriatic-Ionian region
IDEAS FOR REFLECTION FROM A
LOCAL AND REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Credits
The Regional Lab on macro-regional issues members so far:
Stefano Bianchini
Director of the IECOB Institute for the Central-Eastern Europe
and the Balkans
Serena Cesetti
Emilia-Romagna Region, official
Mirco Degli Esposti
Bologna University, Department of History, Culture and Civilization,
researcher of the GREP, Group of Researchers on Ethnography of Thought
Luca Jourdan
Bologna University, Department of History, Culture and Civilization
and scientific coordinator for the Regional Lab
Stefano Michelini
Emilia-Romagna Region, Head of Statistics Unit
Annalisa Laghi
Emilia-Romagna Region, official
Samuele Paganoni
Bologna University, Department of History, Culture and Civilization,
researcher of the GREP, Group of Researchers on Ethnography of Thought
Valerio Romitelli
Bologna University, Department of History, Culture and Civilization
and coordinator of the GREP
Elena Tagliani
Emilia-Romagna Region, official and coordinator of the Regional Lab
Innovation through integration in territorial policies for the Adriatic-Ionian region EN
Table of contents
1 Innovation in macro-regional instruments for territorial development:
the EUSAIR and the Regional laboratory on macro-regional issues
ElEna Tagliani p. 5
2 The Adriatic-Ionian macro-region: a field investigation
Mirco DEgli EsposTi, saMuElE paganoni p. 41
3 Geopolitics of the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region.
An arc of diversity in search of integration
sTEfano Bianchini p. 55
4 Statistics in support of the AdriGov project: why? Abstract
sErEna cEsETTi p. 79
Annex
I Adriatic-Ionian Universities Forum on the EUSAIR strategy. Bologna,
San Giovanni in Monte, Conference Room Giorgio Prodi,
5th and 6th December, 2013. Transcription of proceedings p. 101
- Agenda and Save the date
- Brochure Regional Lab
- Working paper
- Slides Jacimović and Bertin
II Adriatic-Ionian Euroregion’s Forum on Innovation in public policies.
Bologna, Industrial Heritage Museum, May, 28th 2014.
Transcription of proceedings p. 263
- Agenda and Invitation
- Speech Anvroin and slides
- Slides GREP and Tagliani
III Regional Lab on macro-regional issues’ experimental laboratory
of education to the collaboration. Milan, EXPO 2015, Palazzo Italia,
22th September, 2015. Transcription p. 331
- Invitation, Save the date and Agenda
- See Italian version for the proceedings of this Day
- Invitation to the plenary AIE
- Joint political document of the EAI about the Milan Charter themes
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Innovation through integration in territorial policies for the Adriatic-Ionian region EN
Innovation in macro-regional
instruments for territorial
development: EUSAIR and
the Regional Laboratory
on macro-regional issues
Elena Tagliani, Regione Emilia-Romagna
1.1 Research, innovation and public policies: instruments
of a new role for the local and regional authorities
One definition of innovation recently proposed by the EPRS - EP researcher Vincent
Reillon, in his 2016 briefing Understanding innovation, available online, is as follows:
“Innovation can be defined as the adoption of new products, processes, marketing or
organizational approaches that create a valuable outcome in terms of financial benefit, wellbeing
or efficiency, to name a few. Given its impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth,
innovation is at the heart of the European policies…. “
If this is innovation, then the experience of the Regional Laboratory on macro-regional
issues, that we will be discussing in the following pages, can without doubt be defined, if
not as innovative in itself, certainly permeated at least by an innovative approach in many
respects. Reflecting on what in this experience led to a significant change in approach,
I can say that the underlying theme of our multi-level and bottom-up research path,
has been the attention dedicated to better quality in our daily work activities, which
contribute to defining a solid basis for important public decisions for a good future for
our societies.
It seemed opportune to us, at a time when local and regional administrations are
finding shortfalls in the effectiveness and efficiency of traditional approaches to territorial
development policies, to try out new ways and and comparison methods in order to
qualify, from the bottom up, based on the thinking of local officials and administrators
who participated in the Regional lab, the daily activities they carry out, in order to plan
sustainable and inclusive development in the respective territories. This experience has
proved interesting, stimulating, and full of potential concrete developments.
Instead of starting from the traditional command-and-control approach, we
investigated anything new and interesting that we could propose, in the context of
territoral planning for sustainable development on a macro-regional scale, reviewing the
priniciples together and resorting to new methods, different from the traditional ones,
starting from a continuous dialogue and continuous discussion, sharing and criticism. In
short we put ourselves at the centre of a collaborative research path, which could lead to
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real proposals able to bring innovation in a field dominated by dissatisfaction with past
results, by the stress of having to conform with all the legislative, political administrative
and protocol regulations. In fact, the traditional approach tends to neglect the simple
consideration that the local administrator represents, and thus works for, the wellbeing
of a community which lives and works in a specific area; but at the same time is bound
to respect certain basic fundamental principles (legality, clarity, equality, protection of
minorities, adaptation of public and private interests, etc.), that they have to interpret
in the best way to integrate/harmonise them with the needs of quality of life. Without
even taking into account the enormous pressure the local and regional policy maker is
under, when he/she must convert European level regulations into practice in their own
areas, which are often the result of strategic logic which do not take into account the real
situation of each area. This is a significant responsibility, which is often impossible to
convert into operational actions, also because of obsolete and unconnected administrative
structures.
1.2 A public interest think tank as an instrument
of qualification
In October 2012 the implementation of the activities supported by the AdriGov1
project started, and of these, in particular the Emilia-Romagna Region proposed the
launch of a platform for discussion and dialogue on the themes of multi-level governance
and quality in public policies and tools for territorial development for the Adriatic-
Ionian macroarea. This platform, which was called the Regional Laboratory on macro-
regional issues, in fact took on the nature of a real think tank, similar to others that exist
in the context of European policies, if it weren’t for the fact that it is orientated towards
the study of integrated instruments for multi-level territorial planning, and above all
because it is in the hands of the public sector. Thus it has the aim of qualifying public
actions for sustainable development, also via the testing of a new model of peer-to-peer
dialogue between the representative components of local and regional Adriatic-Ionian
administrations and the academic component.
The structure, the objectives, the operating rules of the Regional Lab are built upon
the need for knowledge of the officials and local administrators who participated in the
1 AdriGov project, co-funded under the IPA Adriatic CBC programme for 2007/2013 and National
Rotation Fund, aimed at enhancing new multi-level governance tools in the Adriatic-Ionian macro-
regional area. The following entities are project partners: Emilia-Romagna Regione, Veneto Region,
Marche Region, Apulia Region, Abruzzo Region, Molise Region as a Lead partner, Informest, the Istria
County (HR), the Dubrovacko-Neretvanska County (HR), the Municipality of Kotor (MNE), the
Qarku (district) of Shkoder (AL), the Perifereia (Region) of Ipirou (GR) and the Kanton of Mostar
(BiH). More info at: www.adrigov.eu
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Innovation through integration in territorial policies for the Adriatic-Ionian region EN
AdriGov project and are members of the Adriatic-Ionian Euro-region2. So these are
elements built based on the characteristics, potential and prospects of the territories that
they represent. Thus, it could be said that the Regional Lab itself constitutes an example
of a place-based instrument, ie. dedicated to a certain territory and oriented to managing
its development in an integrated way; we were able to test the interesting potential of this
instrument in the period from Autumn 2012 to today.
Once constituted, the Regional Lab set itself the task of proposing – and, if possible,
testing together in the field – alternatives for greater effectiveness and efficiency concerning
the current patterns of public decision-making, which in all the administrations of the
Adriatic-Ionian macro-area present limitations due to complications and bureaucratic
burdens, as well as political, administrative, cultural, historic and linguistic barriers.
Together we found and shared a proposal of good multi-level governance, working
towards finding a new common awareness concerning the principles which in fact we
share in our everyday activity, those that guide our work to make the multi-institutional
chaos in which we find ourselves living and working more attractive and liveable with.
Working on multi-level governance tools was what was expected of us; and to a certain
extent we did this, but in an innovative way; so not starting from the tools, but from
the territory that should inspire the definition of the tools appropriate for managing it.
This reversal fits the concept of macro-regional strategy perfectly, under the spotlight of
cohesion policy since 2009, but still for the most part incomprehensible in their intrinsic
newness: the place-based3 approach.
And precisely the reflections/observations which we conducted in the Regional Lab,
alongside the professors and researchers of the macro-regional Universities, using a peer to
peer system, in order to be able to exploit different professional and academic experience
in analysing common problems, led us to face together, and understand, many questions
which before were ambiguous). Starting from the fact that, if Europe, at a certain point
dissatisfied with the effects of the traditional cohesion policy, thought of proposing tools
such as macro-regions, built on the peculiarities of certain territories and thus potentially
better suited to resolving its problems, then we also, as officials and administrators whose
task it is to work together for a better future for our regions and cities, could and should
have tested the possibility of introducing an approach of this type, starting from our
everyday work.
Studying the application form of the AdriGov project with colleagues belonging to the
2 www.adriaticionianeuroregion.eu
3 http://ec.europa.eu(regional_policy/archive/policy/future/barca_it.htm Link to the “Barca Report”
entitled “An agenda for a reformed cohesion policy”. The former EC Commissioner Hübner engaged
Professor Fabrizio Barca to make an independent report with an overall appraisal on the efficiency and
effectiveness of the current Cohesion Policy, with a set of proposals about possible reform measures
for the post 2013 programming period. In that document the place-based approach is theorized as a
necessary leverage for efficiency and effectiveness in the Cohesion policy tools.
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working group within the Emilia-Romagna Region (experts in various sectorial policies,
such as statistics, territorial co-operation, environment, social and welfare policies, as
well as administrative and financial experts), we have tried to interpret the demand for
research work which provides new perspectives on the quality of local and regional public
policies. We have fine-tuned a work proposal on the theme of innovation applied to the
field of policy making, in order to understand what it means to innovate, when innovating
is something positive. In fact two lines of intervention emerged from this: the first choice
was that of managing the project activities within the regional structure, with employees
belonging to the staff who expressed the desire to train, or retrain, learning design/
planning and accounting techniques. This goes against the trend of the usual choice,
which implies the assignment of temporary staff for every European project, staff who
then take their competence away from the regional context, which is thus deprived of
this opportunity to grow professionally. The second choice was to use the same syncretic
and dialogic approach, in order to establish and incorporate an open and agile tool, the
Regional lab on macro-regional issues, with the intention of being able to count on a think
tank and learn in the field from this experience. This was all made possible by the starting
up of the AdriGov Project, which included a test, a pilot project, a comparison, with all of
the preparatory activities that were necessary.
As mentioned before, we can identify two aspects of innovation in the structure of
the Regional Lab. The first aspect consists of the fact that it allows continuous comparison
between two necessary components for the creation of “good policies”: the so-called
policy makers and practitioners, those who create and implement the policies, and the
academics, who study them and compare them and who work on an epistemological
level to allow improvement of concrete actions for the wellbeing and growth of the
territorial policies. This fact brings with it the beginning, for these same academics, of a
new phase of “internal” comparison, which has always been difficult, not only due to the
administrative barriers, but also and above all due to a mistaken sense “possession” of the
ideas, which are not discussed, or circulated, but are “protected”, and thus do not spark off
any innovative processes.
The second aspect of innovation of the Regional Lab can be seen in its focus on the
sustainable multi-level territorial development policies, which makes the think tank in fact
a place-based instrument. This provides practitioners with the opportunity to rethink and
qualify territorial policies, enriching and completing their own background of knowledge
and the methodological instruments; whereas for researchers it is an opportunity
to expand, check, compare and test their own theories, extending and enriching their
own experience with the knowledge of real effects on the territories of the theoretical
assumptions related to various disciplines.
It was a question then of demonstrating in practice, with common experience, that
it could be a good idea to overturn perspectives, open up to comparison, learn from each
other, change the methods of dealing with the themes of common interest; and to do this,
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Innovation through integration in territorial policies for the Adriatic-Ionian region EN
starting right from the consideration that sustainable development of our territories is a
“common thing”, and is definitely a theme which interests everybody. This challenge was
won right from the very beginning; in fact we realised that working in an involving and
transverse environment such as that created by the Regional Lab, proceeding by trial and
error and working on various real and creative proposals, gave everyone the possibility
to open up new prospects to be tested in a real way, and put many new questions on the
table. And this is what is in fact missing from the “traditional” approach to policy making:
innovation which has real effects.
1.3 Knowledge as a key element of a good policy
and the new approach of the Regional Lab
Let us start from the undisputed presumption– rather, increasingly shared as a pillar
of the new policy of cohesion – that a good policy must be based on proper, in-depth,
complete knowledge of the potential and characteristics of the territory (the so-called
territorial assets).
In order to make the policy work it is necessary to have data. These are different
according to the territory that they are required to represent, often not comparable with
each other and nor do they allow for an easy interpretation of the social context. As the
first topic of common interest, we placed two objectives on the table: to make it possible
to compare the data, and then make it useful, ie. to find the key to interpreting them so
that they can be helpful in the policies that they have to contribute to creating.
This key to interpretation must take into account various factors, among which the
consideration that the territorial differences are in fact a resource, actually they are the
most representative characteristic of the macro-region, so they should not be eliminated,
but rather appreciated and harmonised for the common good. Furthermore, the data that
we collect should be used to construct a common policy for a cross-border area, which
then has to integrate various instances to cover all the needs of a territory, the macro-
regional area, which, as we have seen is characterised by immense diversity. Furthermore
it is important to consider that the effects of this integrated policy will affect the people
who live and work in these territories, and so the ultimate aim to bear in mind is the
quality of life in the territories governed by the policy. This is why we have chosen to
give a key role to the figure of the official, seeing as it is his/her job to moderate all the
interests at stake in a particular territory, it is he/she who needs to understand the area
fully in order to be able to administer it in the best way, and it is he/she who will have to
answer to its citizens. Working with the ethnographic approach, we have also been able
to demonstrate that the official is the person who thinks about the potential, the critical
areas and areas of friction and on the choices and can make their own experience and
passion available to the public decision-maker.
In fact, with the Regional Lab we have decided, with the help of the best
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methodological and technical tools and the qualifying support of the academic
component, to question the local and regional officials and administrators of the macro-
regional area as to what they think are the shared priorities, the common challenges, the
collective interest opportunities for the sub-national level of governance in the Adriatic-
Ionian macro-area. We have also explored the possibility of a new approach to the
statistical data at the level of regional and local governance, which is currently a crucial
point in the macro-area, and we have also resorted to the support of the analytical tools
of geo-politics.
Starting from the assumption that in order to create a good policy you must have a
complete picture of the social situation which needs to be improved, we have ascertained
that the existing quantitative data are not only insufficient, but also very often they are not
interconnected and thus do not allow for any comparisons or evaluations; furthermore,
it could be very useful to examine this knowledge alongside the survey of what people
think, because the policies are in any case chosen for the common good of the people;
and when ethical objectives are defined which are shared unanimously through dialogue
and collaboration. The end result was that we became aware of the fact that in order to
create integrated policies it is important to have a real integrated and place-based cognitive
picture, that can draw on different, complementary information and methods, so that we
can guarantee the public decision-maker maximum quality in his/her choices.
In the first questionnaire, distributed to AdriGov partners and those of the Adriatic-
Ionian Euroregion in 2014, we asked those working in local and regional public
administrations of the macro-area to give us their thoughts on the priorities of their
administrations, on the characteristics of the territories governed at local and regional
level, and on what the priority proposals to put forward could be which take account
of the territorial importance, ie which were equipped with the necessary connection
between people, territory and institutions in order to guarantee that the sustainable
development policies had positive and concrete effects. Some surprising considerations
emerged, which could lead to a summary of some recommendations for the actors of
institutional governance for the Adriatic-Ionian macroarea.
One very interesting element transpired immediately, and was then analysed at
length within the Regional Lab, and taken by the officials who took part in the meetings
in the participating administrations. This concerns the crucial importance of the theme
of representativeness of the officials and administrators in relation to the territorial
entities that they work for. This element shifted the balance in the organisation and
administering of the questionnaires, but was also very fruitful as we will explain in greater
detail later on.
The group of officials who learnt to collaborate better with each other in the
Regional Lab, at various levels, with various roles and methods, but always for the good
of the territories under their responsibility – together with the group of academics and
researchers who work and do research for the benefit of these areas, proposed their view
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