1. Newsletter 3 Fall 2010 Inter-municipal cooperation for strategic steering of SME-oriented location development in the AlpsT he City of Sonthofen hostedthe third COMUNIS-Meeting.Besides intensive project work, implementing inter-municipal CLD were discussed with view to the situation and development objec-Contentsthe project team was able to gaintives in the individual pilot regionsProject meeting in Sonthofen1insights into the specic situationof the project partners. For Alpsee- Location Analysis: Tarare, FRin the German COMUNIS pilot re-Grnten, a eld trip to various re-Inter-municipal commercial location 2gion Alpsee-Grnten. gional commercial areas revealed development: strategic approachesFrom 7-9 June 2010, the German the strengths and weaknesses of the pilot area. This analysis of the Vorarlberg - The PLA-model3project partners City of Sonthofen business location highlighted theIndustrial Ecology in Sierre/CHand Bosch & Partner GmbH wel-comed the COMUNIS-partnershipmajor importance of an inter-mu- Launch of work package 74in the upper Allgu. The Germannicipal strategy on CLD with a fo- COMUNIS - Forschungsmarkt regiosuisseAlpine Space Contact Point, Mr.cus on land use development andUpcoming eventsFlorian Ballnus, as well as Mr.marketing for the Alpsee-GrntenClaus Hensold of the Bavarian En-region.vironment Agency (Landesamt frAt Sonthofen, work package (WP)Umwelt, LfU) as project observer 6 was ocially launched. WP 6 istook part in the meeting. The threebased on the results of the Bal-meeting days were lled with dis-ance Score Card (BSC) and thecussions and intensive exchangegeneral strategy development ofof information on current tasksthe previous WPs 4 and 5 (Exami-among all pro-ject partners. nation and Development). It aimsThe meeting focused in particularat the implementation of suitableon the debate about the dierent CLD joint actions and their testingmodels of Commercial Locationin the pilot regions.Development (CLD). On the basisSandra Feuersteinof theoretical models and studied Stadt Sonthofenbest practice examples, options forProject partners in Sonthofen. MW2010 Location analysis in the French pilot area TarareIn spring 2010, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was imple-According to the partners feedbacks on their experiencesmented in all pilot regions. To gather relevant data about with the implementation, this diagnosis tool has proventhe current situation in the pilot region and its specic de-its value in highlighting common challenges and opportu-velopment perspective, the project partners interviewednities to be addressed in the upcoming strategy develop-local stakeholders.ment (WP 5) and implementation phase (WP 6) (see g. 1). The exibility in the application of the method - that means the combination of quantitative and qualitative data - or the optional extension of the tool by additional elds of research, oered a further advantage in implementing the BSC. At large, the BSC appears to be a satisfying method to collect the dierent perceptions of stakeholders and to compare regions on the regional and transnational levels in terms of economic development.Fig. 1: Four steps to analyse and evaluate the Balanced Scorecard.Alpine Space Programme - European Territorial Cooperation 2007-2013 1

2. www.comunis.euHowever, due to dierences in the administrative and legalimpact the entire pilot region. Such action should include,framework conditions across borders, it seems dicult toamongst others, a common marketing strategy to enhancegather comparable indicators that would allow a satisfyingthe partnership of the CCIL Delegation de Tarare, the threecomparison at the international level.communauts de communes, and ADERLY, Lyons econo-The CCIL Dlgation de Tarare implemented the BSC toolmic development agency.in three Communauts de Communes (Association of Florine Goncetmunicipalities) which are in charge of the local economicChamber of Commerce & Industry of Lyondevelopment. The study revealed the need to focus onissues related to commercial land use development (g. 2). Actual situationShort-, medium-, long-It is recommendedTarget situationterm land availability 100 to install a unit (e.g. an agency) for economic develop- Transparency &Ownership 80ment and flexibility of procedure60to elaborate a tool to identify short-, medium-, and long-term availability of commercial sites (e.g. a com-40 mercial property database).Price level 20 Quality of land &premisesThe above-mentioned instruments would allow the0municipalities to monitor land availability, to pool resourc-es, to highlight regional characteristics (i.e. its unique sell-ing proposition) and to attract a specic kind of businessAvailability ofSpecifications ofupper level planningand/or types of economic activities.tools for CLDdocumentPromoting an entire region in need of revitalization anddynamism will be increasingly important. Joint approachesLand use conflictsCompetences &influencesare required to handle common challenges such as thedevelopment of new business parks and incubators or the Fig. 2: The BSC for the Tarare area in the eld of Commercialconstruction of a new highway (A89) in 2012, which will land use development. Partners on excursion in the pilot area Alpsee-Grnten. MW2010Strategic approaches to inter-municipal commercial location developmentCOMUNIS was launched with the aim to oer Alpine com- location development. Three models of action (tab. 1) weremunities guidelines and concrete tools that may help them identied:design and implement an appropriate strategy for inter-Land Use Development: Since land is an essential re-municipal commercial location development (CLD). The di- source for any commercial site development, thisverse regional conditions and needs call for dierentiated model of action covers dierent approaches to makestrategies focusing on dierent aspects. land available and re-develop it in a focused and coordi-Therefore, in a rst step of work package (WP) 5 a num-nated way and manage the use of land for commercialber of possible strategic approaches were identied on the purposes in an optimal way.basis of best pracices examples for CLD compiled in WP 4,Promotion and Communication: The focus is eithercomplemented the results of a literature search concerning on the joint marketing of individual commercial sitesthe specic elds of action of (inter-)municipal economicHandlungs- Business Land use development Promotion & communicationmodell development Comprehen- IndividualHandlungs-Inter-municipalCommercialCommercialLocationsive urban business kategorie business parksite policy site marketing marketing development support Tab. 1: Overview of strategic approaches to inter-municipal CLD.Alpine Space Programme - European Territorial Cooperation 2007-20132 3. www.comunis.eu (Commercial Site Marketing) or on the development ofFor some areas a combination of dierent approaches could a concerted prole for the site under consideration (Lo-prove more appropriate than focusing on just one category cation Marketing).of action.Business development: Targeted, individual support is Based on regional needs and objectives, the task for the provided to businesses already present in the area or pilot areas is now to dene appropriate strategies, while willing to settle. For example, assistance is provided to considering the related organizational, nancial, planning, start up a business, select the site or deal with adminis-and legal issues. Specic management structures can be trative obstacles. In this case the promotion of business discussed against this backdrop. networks plays an important role since it can help es- tablish and strengthen regional ows and value chains. Stefan v. Andrian-WerburgBosch und Partner GmbHThe PLA-Model as Structure for Active Land Policy in VorarlbergThe agency Regional Developmentpal liquidity. The land will be bought, land acquisition;Vorarlberg supports two regions in developed (spatial planning, design, clarication of nances;building a structure for business site designation, development), and thendevelopment. With the newly estab- oered to particular businesses for deliberation of planning for the de-lished structure Project and Locationsale.velopment of the land;Association (PLA), regional municipal decision-making for specialinitiati- With the planned foundation of theassociations will be in the position to ves (marketing measures); PLA in the Great Walser Valley inimplement strategies for commercial 2010, a running operation will be in- organization of expert planners aslocation development and active land stitutionalised which will make pos- well as in leading the associationpolicies. sible the implementation of the CLD- itself.Concretely, the new structure will strategies on an inter-municipal level.allow professional land acquisitions Peter Steurer The operation includes counseling thewithout an excessive strain on munici- Regionalentwicklung Vorarlberg mayors regarding: Industrial Ecology in SierreFollowing an internal meeting withlocal partners and observers, the pro-ject partner University of Applied Sci-ences Western Switzerland/Institutefor Economy and Tourism decidedRaw material +Final Productto focus the projects next tasks on EnergySierres main issue in the frame of acooperation at an integrated develop-ment: Agglo Sierre/Crans-Montana Valorization ofindustrial ecology. waste and WasteThe motivation therefore is that only residual energythe city of Sierre with its concern of in-dustrial ecology can reasonably enterin the issue of inter-municipality andt to one of the developed strategiesin work package 5. Fig. 3: The principle of industrial ecology.The pilot region would be Sierre in in-terrelation with municipalities in Cen-Industrial ecology deals with the shar-ciple is illustrated in gure 3. Takingtral Valais with the aim of an agreed ing of economic services between as a starting point the natural ecosys-administration of resources betweenand among two or more industries ortems, the principle of industrial ecol-municipalities by means of an eco- companies in order to prevent from ogy is to regard ows of matter andindustrial symbiosis.disturbing eects on nature. The prin- energy as closed circuits. The waste ofAlpine Space Programme - European Territorial Cooperation 2007-2013 3 4. www.comunis.euone company becomes the raw materi-dating their economic competitivenessals of another; the after-heat producedin order to set up an innovating man-by the activities of a company can beagement of ows of raw materials and UPCOMING EVENTdeveloped for the activities of another. energy.Sierres goal within this cooperation isCOMUNIS Project workshop,to increase the environmental perfor- Nathalie StummUniversity of Applied 13-15 December 2010,mance of the companies while consoli- in Vorarlberg (AT) Sciences Western Switzerland INFO BOX:COMUNIS aims at developing The Constitution of the urban area Sierre/Crans-Montana is subordinated to the cooperative strategies for inter- cantonal implementation strategy of the New Regional Policy (NRP). Through municipal Commercial Location the NRP, the Confederation supports the mountain areas of Switzerland to helpDevelopment (CLD). By foster- them control the structural change. The NRP must make it possible to improve ing intra-territorial coopera- the framework conditions for the economic activities, to promote innovations,tion, COMUNIS wants to over- to generate added value, and to encourage competitiveness in the eligible areas. come individualistic attempts ofproblem solution on the level ofsingle municipalities. COMUNISwill provide broadly adaptableLaunch of Work Package 7: Evaluation and Adaptation guidelines to apply such strate-gies and oer practical instru-In October 2010, by coordination of theProject partners are going to systema- ments for assessing local andSociet Consortile Langhe Monferrato tically analyse the experiences in the regional demand for the steeringRoero, the activities of WP 7 Evalua- pilot regions, further dene and adapt of CLD. The project will result intion & Adaptation were launched.the steering instruments, and create a transnational knowledge man-WP 7 is the logical step after the deve- conditions for transforming the know-agement and establish sustain-lopment (WP 5) and implementationledge management.able structures for managing(WP 6) of the CLD-strategies that were This WP, setting the basis for the capi- CLD in the COMUNIS pilot areas.identied by each partner in the pilot talisation of project results and the add- COMUNIS runs from July 2009 toareas. ed value produced by the project imple-June 2012.The activities in this framework aim atmentation, is an essential element forcritically evaluating the project deve-the viability and sustainability of thePROJECT PARTNERSlopment and its implementation in theproject results and instruments beyondLead partner:pilot areas, as well as the consecutivethe ocial project end in June 2012.University of Applied Sciencesadaptation of the CLD-strategy andWestern Switzerland, Institutinstruments based on the experiences Maria Crea Economie et Tourisme (CH).made and lessons learnt on site. S. C. Langhe Monferrato RoeroERDF-Lead partner:Chambre de Commerce etdIndustrie de Lyon (F). COMUNIS @ Forschungsmarkt regiosuisse 2010 Other partners:Stadt Sonthofen (DE), Eurac-The event Forschungsmarkt regio-peripheral areas and mountain areas.Research, Institute for Regionalsuisse & Tagung Regionalentwicklung Eurac sta member Miriam Wei re-Development and Location Man-2010 was held on 1 September in Lu- ported on the topic of inter-municipal agement (IT), Canton du Val-cerne, CH. It oered opportunities to commercial site development in South ais Service du dveloppementgain some insight into the interdisciplin- Tyrol and on the preliminary researchconomique (CH), Ministeroary practice of the New Swiss Regional results of the COMUNIS-project.dellAmbiente e delle Tutela delPolicy (NRP) and its development. In addition, participants were involvedTerritorio e del Mare (IT), BoschRepresentatives from the research, aca- Partner GmbH (DE), Regionalent- in 15 round tables devoted to issues rel-demic and business communities de-wicklung Vorarlberg (AT), Societ evant for regional development to iden-livered lectures and presented projectConsortile Langhe Monferrato tify research gaps from the perspectiveposters on the topic of Eective spatial Roero, settore progetti europei of the NRP implementation practice.policies: synergies and conicts, in-(IT), BSC Poslovno podporni cen-terdisciplinary and practical approach- ter, d.o.o., Kranj (SI), Associationes for dealing with socio-economic,Miriam L. Wei Suisse pour le Service aux Rgionseconomic and cultural challenges in Eurac-Researchet Communes (CH).Alpine Space Programme - European Territorial Cooperation 2007-20134