Projects

The project involved investigation of the role of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the Central and East European EU Candidate Countries and specifically in the Czech Republic and Poland. The research has four specific objectives: i) to review the operation and legislative basis of RDAs across the Central and East European Candidate Countries, providing the context for more detailed work on Poland and the Czech Republic; ii) for the Czech Republic and Poland, to examine the role, position and status of RDAs within current institutional and administrative infrastructures, including: - a review of: the political and economic context in which the RDAs operate, relevant government policy and legislation; the position of RDAs within existing national and sub-national economic development structures; the involvement of RDAs with EU pre-accession aid and future Structural Funds; and a comparison of the structures, aims and responsibilities of RDAs within and between the case study countries. iii) to analyse the evolution, current status and future prospects for RDAs in the Czech Republic and Poland.

The project comprised an evaluation of the changing role of the region in the processes of regional economic restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The research hypothesised that processes of regionalisation are creating new institutional relationships and that these developments are having an impact on the formulation and implementation of regional economic programmes. The research aimed to establish how regional-level institutions of governance in CEE fit into the broader European trend of regionalisation and examine the implications for regional economic development. Three sets of issues were addressed: (i) the process and motivations of regionalisation; (ii) institutional relationships, power balances and networks influencing regional economic development; and (iii) policy implications, including in the light of future EU accession. The research involved detailed comparative case study analysis of neighbouring heavy industrial regions in the Czech Republic and Poland to allow an in-depth analysis of the issues within the dynamic reality of continued controversy, ambiguity and institutional instability.

This project involved research on the reform of the Structural Funds and the position to be adopted by the UK in the forthcoming negotiations. It was intended as an initial step towards determining the valued added of the Structural Funds in the UK and their relationship with national policies. The goal of the feasibility study was to provide evidence allowing the UK Government to decide upon the shape and scope of a future evaluation of the impact and added value of enterprise and regeneration activity funded by Structural Funds in the UK.

The project involved preparation of further factsheets, building on earlier work, for the NDP Gender Equality Unit in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on gender mainstreaming in the Irish NDP. The factsheets (on Gender and Research, Gender and Sport and Leisure, Gender and Tourism and Gender and Urban Development) were intended to help policymakers and practitioners apply the principles of gender mainstreaming to their day-to-day work. This was again backed up by training, provided by EPRC

The project involved research and development of factsheets for the National Development Plan Gender Equality Unit in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on gender mainstreaming in the Social and Economic Operational Programme of the Irish Development Plan. The factsheets (on Gender and Housing, Gender and Transport and Gender and Agriculture and Rural Development) were intended to help policymakers and practitioners apply the principles of gender mainstreaming to their day-to-day work. EPRC also headed a consortium to provide delivery of training on gender mainstreaming to policymakers and agencies accessing funding through the NDP.

The project involved research on how investor perceptions of Scotland as a location differed from those held within Locate in Scotland.

The project involved research on inward investment policy in the UK in a context where Invest UK had decided to undertake a substantial and on-going survey of investor attitudes to the UK as a means of gathering more sophisticated intelligence on foreign investment trends. The EPRC research involved a pilot study of investors during 2000. This involved the development of a survey questionnaire and sample, a series of telephone interviews with investors and interpretation of the results in light of changes to the UK’s investment attractiveness

The project involved preparatory research and organisation of a major international conference on 'Benchmarking Regional Policy in Europe' in September 2001 . The meeting brought together senior regional policymakers from all ten Central and East European Candidate Countries as well as Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for informal but in-depth discussion on common regional policy challenges facing European countries. The conference represented an important opportunity to exchange experience in all aspects of structural and regional policy. Research papers prepared and presented by EPRC were used to guide and open discussion, with participants encouraged to make maximum use of the confidential setting for frank and open debate. Discussions during the two main conference days covered topics such as the evolution and form of national regional policy, EU competition policy constraints and their impact on policy-making, and the experience of implementing EU structural and cohesion policies.

The project involved research on the integration of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) and the Urban Framework for Action (UFA) into the 2000-06 Objective 1 Structural Fund programmes. Undertaken at the same time as a parallel Objective 2 project, it had three main aims: (i) to assess whether the Policy Guidelines and Aims of the ESDP and the policy options of the UFA had been integrated into the Objective 1 programmes; (ii) to consider how this had been done, and; (iii) to draw together an overview by providing a typology of the spatial and urban actions which correspond with the integration of ESDP and UFA guidelines, aims and options

The project involved research on the integration of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) and the Urban Framework for Action (UFA) into the 2000-06 Objective 2 Structural Fund programmes. Undertaken at the same time as a parallel Objective 1 project, it had three main aims: (i) to assess whether the Policy Guidelines and Aims of the ESDP and the policy options of the UFA had been integrated into the Objective 2 programmes; (ii) to consider how this had been done, and; (iii) to draw together an overview by providing a typology of the spatial and urban actions which correspond with the integration of ESDP and UFA guidelines, aims and options