ESPON Seminar 15 November 2006 in Espoo, Finland

Review of the ESPON 2006 Review of the ESPON 2006 and lessons learned and lessons learned

for the ESPON 2013 Programme for the ESPON 2013 Programme

Thiemo W. Eser, ESPON Managing Authority, Ministry of the Interior and for Spatial Development, Luxembourg

ESPON 2006 ProgrammeAims

Purpose: Support to policy development Built a scientific network for applied European

territorial research Expectations:

New evidence and knowledge on European territorial trends and impact of EU policies

Integrated territorial analysis, tools and scenarios

Budget: 17 million Euro (7,5 Mio EURO from ERDF)

Some statistics

29 countries participating • 22 ESPON Contact Points• More than 225 partners involved in Transnational

Project Groups (TPG), covering more than 130 different institutions, more than 600 researchers

• Well above 2000 participants at ESPON seminars, transnational ECP and INTERACT-ESPON events

• 34 applied research projects in total 11 ESPON publications available at the end

Scientific Reports, Synthesis reports, Briefings, Atlas and Scenarios

ESPON Database and 2 mapping tools

Lead Partners and Project Partners in ESPON

Approach towards the review of the ESPON 2006

• SWOT Analysis– Strength– Weaknesses– Opportunities– Threads

• Needs assessment– General needs– Needs for analytical deliveries– Needs concerning the capitalisation of he use of

ESPON results– Needs to ensure a smooth operation

Strengths(WOT) of the ESPON 2006 Programme

• New comparable information and evidence• Tools for territorial analysis including ESPON Data base

models and mapping• Transnational character and European perspective • Policy use of ESPON results and maps in policy

documents• Networking and dialogue between policy makers and

research community• Synthetic ESPON publications in time for policy events• Contributing to a research community with academic

interest in territorial development and cohesion• Management and coordination efficient and delivery

according rules and expectations

(S)Weaknesses(OT) of the ESPON 2006 Programme

• Basic evidence is still missing for a number of themes• Thematic overweight on socio-economic issues less

social/environmental• Territorial analysis of macro economic shocks• Lack of longer data time perspective• Insufficient availability of comparable regionalised data• Strong academic orientations of some projects difficult for easy

access and use of results• Low involvement of other EC programmes and institutions • ECP network covering not all countries• Missing independent scientific quality control• Lower number of researchers of new Member States• Sometimes low number of project proposals• Limited European wide awareness about ESPON results due to

modest financial resources for communication• Administrative burden at project level

(SW)Opportunities(T) of the ESPON 2006 Programme

• Meeting the existing demand for support to policy development

• Existing potentials for strengthening a European dimension in territorial development

• Improve systematic evidence and information• Further development of territorial database,

indicators/indices and tools • Consolidation of the scientific platform • Exploring the better complementarities and synergies

with EU institutions and sector policies • Potential for increasing capitalization, awareness,

networking, communication for European but also transnational dimension in policies

• Potential of ECP network in contribution awareness raising, dissemination and checks

(SWO)Threads for the ESPON 2006 Programme

• Lack of information on individual regions to explore the territorial context of regions

• Lack of regionalized comparable data with full EU coverage

• Lack of continuous quality control of data and validation• Uncompetitive budgets for project groups• Insufficient resources for capitalization and

communication • Risk of heavy administrational procedures• Lack of sufficient analytical capacity to digest, filter and

synthesis results of applied research

(1/4) Needs: General needs identified

• Widen the focus on evidence for regional and cohesion policy

• Regions require information in their larger territorial context

• Comparable evidence on sector policies with territorial impact for an integrated approach

• Territorial effects and challenges of Mega trends • The further evolution of EU cohesion policy needs

support by territorial indicators • Use of analytical results and data shall be addressed to

variety of users (policy makers, administrators, stakeholders …)

(2/4) Needs for analytical deliveries

• Themes reflect the current and future political debate• Using the typologies identified by Structural Funds

interventions when relevant • Complementarity and consistency with studies of other

(Community) policies • Data collection and validation, overcoming of limitations

to European data sets • Systematic analysis of territorial flows• Systematic and sequential reporting and monitoring of

territorial trends and policy impacts• Consolidation of the scientific platform• Research projects and targeted analytical projects shall

be carried through by transnational teams of researchers and consultants

(3/4) Needs concerning the capitalisation of the use of ESPON results

• More operational knowledge transposing scientific results• Intensive dialogues with the relevant stakeholders • Intensive capitalization by awareness raising and

involvement as well as communication to on EU level, transnational and stakeholders

• Strengthened ESPON Contact Point network (transfer and expertise)

• Networking with existing national observatories• Consolidation of the scientific community in the field of

applied territorial research

(4/4) Needs to ensure a smooth operation

• Coordinated communication plan and capitalisation strategy

• Validation of scientific results• Validation of comparable data • Simple and easy financial and administrational

procedures• Administrative assistance and analytical support by the

programme bodies • Competitive budgets

Consequences for the ESPON 2013 programme

• Continuity … – Applied research – Territorial indicators– Regions in the European and transnational context,

profiles potentials, challenges • … and change through innovation

– Respond to the increasing importance of territorial cohesion and cooperation, trends, impacts perspectives

– Analytical results useful for policymakers – Take into account the global context, better

anticipation of developments– Capitalisation and awareness raising– Consolidation of scientific platform

Thank you for your attention

www.espon.eu