In Search of Concerted Strategies for Competitive and Resilient Regions

Abstract

The European space-economy represents a complex system with a great internal heterogeneity, intensive socioeconomic interactions and differential growth trajectories among countries and regions. The present study aims to investigate the connectivity between spatial competitiveness and resilience in Europe and seeks to design an operational framework for concerted strategies of competitive and resilient regions. To assess the linkage between resilience and competitiveness, we have developed a new measure, viz. the Resilience and Competitiveness Index (RACI) as a function of two constituent sub-indices: Resilience and Competitiveness. This approach is tested on the basis of detailed data on European regions. The empirical results from 268 EU NUTS2 regions offer a solid anchor point for the proposed operational framework for concerted development strategies of competitive and resilient regions. Our research distinguishes and proposes several systematic types of concerted regional strategies according to the performance of a region measured by Resilience and Competiveness sub-indices. A key result of the study is the design of an operational constellation for strategic regional policy evaluation, with a major added value for policy- and decision-making purposes. The use of official data from Eurostat and of standard indicators in our research assures continuity and consistency with the official Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI) classification and measurement, so that policy makers are able to compare the performance of their regions over time and to develop proper concerted strategies accordingly. The clear evidence of a connectivity between regional competitiveness and resilience may help to develop a governance approach that balances competitiveness (mainly represented by productive assets) with resilience (mainly represented by sustainability and ecological awareness) and thus to deal with the complexity in socioeconomic systems.

Asymetria jako czynnik osłabiający odporność i integrację w zrównoważonym rozwoju polsko-czeskiego pogranicza w kontekście sporu o kopalnię Turów

“…), the continuous evolution of the regional development drivers and the efforts to find formulas for adaptation and survival (Bristow & Healy, 2015). The concept of resilience has a long tradition in biological and engineering sciences; in the last decade it also gained popularity in urban and regional sciences (Borsekova et al, 2018(Borsekova et al, , 2021Drobniak, 2018;Smętkowski, 2015). Definitions of the phenomenon of resilience can apply to man, society, ecosystem or city.…”

“…There are two novel aspects here: resilience and crossborder integration in the case of the Polish-Czech borderland. The article was prepared using questionnaires carried out under the Project The crisis at the Turów Mine and its impact on Czech-Polish cross-border cooperation: An evaluation, conclusions and recommendations, funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange in 2022 1 . We assume that the main goal of these regions is to work towards sustainable development.…”

Economic vulnerability in US metropolitan areas

“…Other recent discussions of urban resiliency, along with appropriate case studies, can be found in Shearmur et al (2016) and Irwin et al (2017). In any case, introducing the ideas of resilience and vulnerability into a region's competitive strategy is becoming an increasingly popular undertaking (Borsekova et al 2021).…”

Clusters: semantically different yet a panacea for achieving resilient competitiveness

“…According to OECD (2016), resilience is the ability to absorb economic, environmental or social shocks or stresses and to accommodate and to mitigate the impact of these shocks while retaining the capacity to carry out essential functions and without passing them on to other entities. According to Borsekova et al (2021), competitiveness and resilience are two mutual concepts, as competitiveness is also perceived as an effective response to unexpected disturbances. Stanickova and Melecký (2018) also have the same school of thought as these authors too define competitiveness as the ability to withstand unexpected external shocks.…”