Summary of answers to the questionnaireon the future of ESPON

27 September 2011

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Answers from:

20 Member and Partner States:

BE, CZ, CY, DK, DE, EE, ES, FI, IE, EL, HU, IT, LV, MT, NO, NL, PT, SE, SK, UK

Eurocities

Association of European Border Regions

European Town and Country Planners

QUESTIONNAIRE

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1. MS strongly support the need of the continuation of ESPON2. MS see the Programme as an important tool of

strengthening/supporting the territorial dimension of Cohesion Policy by wide spreading and using the territorial knowledge

3. Periodical data provided by ESPON should complement data collected and published by EUROSTAT, DG REGIO and other European organizations

4. One of the main focus of the Programme is to strengthen the continuous monitoring and comparative observations over time based on periodical data and indicators

GENERAL REACTION

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ESPON – FOR WHOM?

ESPON – WHAT FOR?

ESPON – WHY IT IS IMPORTANT?

ESPON – MAIN FIELDS OF INTEREST

ESPON – BY WHAT MEANS?

ESPON – WAYS OF CAPITALISATION

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ESPON – FOR WHOM?

1. Responsible for Cohesion Policy preparation on the EU and national level

2. National policy makers setting up priorities to be able to compare against European/other countries’ benchmarks and to define their gaps and plan measures

3. Those who implement the programmes and prepare periodical reporting

4. Actors of multi-level governance systems 5. Practitioners

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ESPON – WHAT FOR?

1. As regular service provision for territorial cohesion

2. As a facilitator of the debate (based on confrontation of research results with the political ideologies) with clear statements on the significance of territorial cohesion

3. For highlighting areas where spatial perspectives are viewedin a sectoral policy context

4. As a provider of analytical background data, indicators, maps to elaborate analytical part of European territory for the Common Strategic Framework and therefore ESPON should be used in the objectives formulation; should provide an evidence base that can shape how best to take advantages of the unique characteristic of European Regions

5. To address the territorial challenges and the main concerns elaborated in the TA2020

6. To prepare databases and analysis referring to functional areas

7. To produce comparable data of the economic, social and territorial dynamics of regions with similar characteristics or challenges

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ESPON – WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

1. Has possibility to make different (than EUROSTAT… ) European data sources more compatible e.g. on the economic position of European regions and in comparison with countries outside of the EU

2. Has potential in the area of measuring the quality of development of territories „beyond GDP”

3. Can assess territorial impacts of EU policies by measuring territorial patterns and trends in order to improve coordination and gain synergies

4. Can assure systematic communication between science and administrations/ science and policy-makers

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1. TA2020 priorities2. Flagships initiatives of EU20203. Demography, services of general interest, biodiversity, water quality,

CAP, environmental policy4. Functional areas going beyond administrative borders, territorial

integration, neighboring countries 5. Evidence for territorial potentials, challenges…

The programme could play a key role in understanding the territorial dimension of mechanisms to unblock bottlenecks to growth

ESPON – MAIN FIELDS OF INTEREST

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ESPON – BY WHAT MEANS?Country/Org THEMATIC STUDIES TARGETED ANALYSES SHORT TERM RESPONSES SCENARIO APPROACH

BE 1 2 3

CZ 1 2

DK 1 2 3 4

EE 1 2

Eurocities 1 2

FI 1 2

DE 1 2 3 4

EL 1 3 2

HU 1 2

IE 1 2 3

IT 1 2 AVOIDED 3

MT 1

NL 1 2

UK 1 2

LV 2 1

SE 1 2

NO 1 2

PT 1 2

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ESPON – BY WHAT MEANS?

1. By the right scale for the right problem and consequent data collection

2. By the structured research requirements towards EU2020, TA2020, other main priorities, rather than having an ‘ad hoc’ approach

3. By comparative analysis on demand on economic, social, territorial dynamics of regions with similar characteristics

4. By utilizing data that is easy to collect

5. By reports as ‘What ESPON tells about your country/region/functional area?’

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ESPON – WAYS OF CAPITALISATION

NATIONAL LANGUAGES

THINK TANKS

USER FRIENDLY REPORTS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARIES

EASLY ACCESSIBLE ON-LINE DATA BASE

CLOSER LINKS TO NATIONAL STATISTICAL OFFICES

ESPON needs to be in tune with the domesticagenda of policy makers;

closer alignment with regional and local policy makers’ prime concerns

would be a major step to making ESPON better known and loved

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How to institutionalize the use of ESPON research and results in national programmes

Relatively slow reaction on policy demand and long timeframe

Very wide range of research topics make difficult to promote the importance of territorial dimension and to indentify the territorial implications

Possible duplication of data periodically collected and published by EUROSTAT, European Environmental Agency and other existing European organizations

Very technical summaries/language

MAIN IDENTIFIED DIFFICULTIES

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Further drafting of the elements of the ESPON 2020 Program should follow the expectations of MS

ESPON as a main territorial knowledge platform for European Commission/MS

ESPON need to be closely linked to Cohesion Policy and the other EU policies

ESPON mission for post 2013 -> European Territorial Observatory

Research topics should be more practical, useful and responsive for the policy makers on the ground

MAIN DIRECTIONS