Technology gaps and sustainable regional development
The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), part of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, has published a report on "Technology gaps and sustainable regional development". The report outlines the results of an exploratory study which analysed the situation of the agri-food sector in four different regions - Andalucia, Ireland, South Brandenburg and Central Macedonia. The aim was to illustrate the extent and diversity of the technology gaps evident between Europe's regions and the possible paths to sustainable regional development in different regions. In each region, the study examines the main technological trends in the agri-food sector, taking the industry standard as a basis, to see whether this can be applied at the regional level. This work leads to a number of technology gaps being identified between the more advanced countries and the less favoured regions. The researchers then identified criteria for the measurement of sustainable development in the context of innovation support projects at the regional level, and applied these to a number of case studies. The result of the study is a set of conclusions for each region which will give policy-makers a better picture of ways in which they can participate in the design of regional initiatives so as to increase the contribution of projects to sustainable regional development.