Search results for "Regional development"

Power, Institutions, and Periphery: What Can a Small University College Do?

2018

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are seen as key sources for innovation, global competitiveness, and regional development despite their location. The chapter discusses the institutionalised practice of an HEI located in a peripheral region with many regional development challenges. The main finding is that the HEI acted as a powerful political actor in the region but within the educational path. It was taken for granted that the HEI should not engage in regional development efforts by the HEI and regional actors in the region. This behaviour is explained as a result of an institutional control mechanism that governs how HEI should practise their role.

Access, Equity, and Regional Development

2014

All over the world, the transition from elite to mass, and in many cases, universal higher education (Trow & Burrage, 2010) has resulted in a new set of policy dilemmas regarding the governance of higher education (HE) systems in general (Amaral, Jones, & Karseth, 2002), as well as attempts to steer access to HE in particular (Pinheiro, Charles, & Jones, 2013; Pinheiro & Antonowicz, forthcoming).

Socio-spatial polarisation and policy response: Perspectives for regional development in the Baltic States

2022

Based on a relational understanding of socio-spatial polarisation as a nested, multidimensional and multi-scalar process, the paper applies a comparative perspective on current trends of socio-spatial development in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Comparing current scholarship and data on demographic and economic processes of centralisation and peripheralisation, we also examine political debates around issues of polarisation in different scholarly national perspectives. Despite variations in national discourses, our comparative perspective conveys strong similarities between the three Baltic countries in terms of socio-economic and demographic concentration in the capital regions to the di…

Absorption of Structural Funds – International Comparisons and Correlations

2013

Abstract Structural Funds represent one of the main instruments which The European Union uses to sustain regional development and to eliminate disparities between members. Specialized literature is relatively poor when it comes to approaching this subject. In the period 2002-2006, several papers were written, which identified the absorption process's influence factors, but all these materials represented ex-ante analysis, the empirical testing of theories being virtually impossible. The present paper, based on available statistical data related to the absorption process, aims at testing these factors, trying to elucidate the great differences obtained by the EU members within Central and Ea…

The Clusters - Collaborative Models of Sustainable Regional Development

2014

Abstract The clusters are the subject of actions and of whole series of documents issued by national and international organizations, and, based on experience, many authorities promote the idea that because of the clusters, competitiveness increases, the workforce specializes, regional businesses and economies grow. The present paper is meant to be an insight into the initiatives of forming clusters in Romania. Starting from a comprehensive analysis of the development potential offered by each region of economic development, we present the main types of clusters grouped according to fields of activity and their overall objectives

The Participatory process in public management for regional development: case of Latvia

2019

In case of Latvia, formal requirements of involvement of citizens in decision-making processes at national, regional and local are defined in different legal acts. In preparation of planning documents some municipalities and public institutions are developing individual approaches to insure effective dialogue with stakeholders. Taking into account ongoing administrative territorial reform in Latvia, there is a need for more inclusive models of citizens’ participation in decision-making process in regional level. Taking into account before mentioned, the aim of the paper is to analyse the approaches of involvement of stakeholders in decision-making processes in context of regional developmen…

Spatial and temporal rainfall changes in the Júcar and Segura basins (1955-2016): Fine-scale trends

2018

A daily rainfall database covering the Júcar and Segura river basin authorities (east Iberian Peninsula, Spain) with high spatial density without gaps (890 series) has been created for the complete period 1955–2016. This has allowed a trend analysis of precipitation and dry/wet spells with a better spatial detail and coverage of key headwaters sectors than previous studies in this area. Results show significant negative trends for precipitation prevailing in Júcar area (an annual average loss of 51 mm), especially towards its north interior headwaters. For this last one the annual loss exceeds 200 mm (20% of precipitation). By contrast, certain pre‐littoral sectors and most of the Segura ar…

Understanding phenolic acids inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase and influence of reaction conditions

2022

Phenolic acids are involved in modulating the activity of starch digestive enzymes but remains unclear if their interaction with enzymes or starch is governing the inhibition. The potential inhibition of nine phenolic acids against α-amylase and α-glucosidase was studied applying different methodologies to understand interactions between phenolic acids and either enzymes or substrates. Vanillic and syringic acids were prone to interact with α-amylase requiring low half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) to inhibit starch hydrolysis. Nevertheless, the initial interaction of phenolic acids with starch somewhat obstructed their interaction with starch, requiring 10 times higher IC50, with…

Sviluppo e Innovazione nell'Hi-tech in Sicilia. Un'indagine sulle imprese àncora e sulle reti innovative nell'area di Catania

2011

The purpose of this report is to scrutinize the development of the microelectronics and nanotechnology cluster from an original anchor fi rm perspective and to examine the processes through which the roles of anchors and their networks of relationships with the most important players of the cluster evolved over the last quarter of the century. On the ground of the analysis of archival data, internal documents and reports, academic publications, and personal interviews with key managers, researchers, and crucial actors from both private and public sides – performed coherently with the snowballing method – the report identifi es the emergence and development of the microelectronics and nanote…

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING STRATEGY: DESIGNING A DYNAMIC INTEGRATED MODEL FRAMEWORK FOR THE SICILY REGION

Over the past decades, Sicily Region has experienced periods of stagnation, recession and sporadic slow economic growth, lagging always behind the national performance. As a consequence of globalization and deregulation, the relevance of regions in national economies has changed considerably in the last decades. Recognizing the importance of the Sicily region in the development process at national level, the purpose of the research is to further explore the dynamics governing the behaviour of the regional economic system. The goal is achieved by the use of simulation modelling: a model framework for the regional economic system is designed by integrating the System Dynamics (SD) methodology…