'Super regions' underpin Europe's competitiveness, finds report
Europe's most competitive regions, or 'super regions', such as Helsinki, Hamburg and Brussels, are increasingly the driving forces behind Europe's overall economic performance, according to the European Competitiveness Index (ECI) 2004. The ECI is described by its authors, Robert Huggins Associates, as Europe's first national and regional index of competitiveness. The index contains indicators on economic performance, creativity and the knowledge economy, and infrastructure and accessibility for all current EU Member States, as well as Norway and Switzerland. In terms of regional performance, the ECI found that: '[A] major competitiveness gap exists between the best and poorest performing regions, and that this gap will continue to grow unless a more cohesive approach to regional development in undertaken at an EU level.' According to the ECI, Europe's best performing regions are Uusimaa (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), Brussels (Belgium), Ile de France (France) and Hamburg (Germany). The bottom ranked regions are Kentriki Ellada (Greece), Sur (Spain), Voreia (Greece) and Centro (Spain). Dr Robert Huggins, chief executive of Robert Huggins Associates, branded those regions at the top of the competitiveness league table as 'super regions'. 'Europe's competitiveness is becoming increasingly underpinned by a number of super regions [...]. These star performers are pulling away from the pack, and it is no coincidence that they are also the drivers of Europe's knowledge creation and utilisation,' he said. Dr Huggins warns that a lack of capacity in the main drivers of economic development within Europe's least competitive regions, such as the availability of knowledge and investment, suggests that they will continue to lag behind. 'Many will undoubtedly become rapidly surpassed by some of the more competitively ambitious regions from the new Member States,' he adds. Furthermore, the disappointing progress made to date in achieving the Lisbon objective 'strongly suggests that there are problems - particularly within those regions in receipt of EU Structural Funds - in establishing policies and initiatives that effectively help build a knowledge and innovation based environment.' In a message to EU leaders ahead of the spring European Summit, Dr Huggins states: '[W]e have to better recognise how knowledge is created and commercialised in order to improve the competitive advantage of the EU. In particular, policy makers throughout the EU must be wary not to simply imitate North American style economic development, which has developed an unhealthy over-fixation with ICT [information and communication technologies] and biotechnology sector building.'