Background

"Border Regions - Regional Foresight and Innovation Development in East Germany"

On 20 and 21 June 2005, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) hosted an international conference to discuss the potential of systematic regional planning instruments as a means of overcoming regional development barriers. Representatives from East German as well as other European regions shared their experience on innovative regional development.

With the support programmes of "Entrepreneurial Regions", the Innovation Initiative for the New German Länder, the BMBF aims at providing a sustainable, long-term strategy for improving the economic situation in East Germany. The initiative seeks to strengthen the regions and enable them to develop their own unique skills profile. A crucial point is the cooperation between the economic and social players within a region based on a common vision.

"Regional Foresight" is a growing trend in the field of future studies, introducing new methods into strategic and political planning at regional level. Regional analysis is combined with participatory methods to assess relevant information and develop a clear vision of a region's future. This vision serves as a reference point for all future planning decisions. "Regional Foresight" is not about substituting established planning procedures, but rather about opening up new dimensions of decision making, monitoring and dialogue, thus providing existing strategies with a new productive link.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has analysed the potential of "Regional Foresight" as a planning instrument with regard to the specific challenges in the New German Länder. The question was not only whether "Regional Foresight" can increase the efficiency of innovations but also whether it enables more effective structures of innovation management. Taking into consideration existing innovation policies implemented at state, Länder and regional level, the analysis focused on how strategic gaps can be closed and what kind of actions can ensure a higher level of marketability.

The Research Directorate-General of the European Commission has also supported measures aimed at strengthening regional innovation policies for several years. Its goal was to establish instruments which cover the long-term future as well as the interaction between science, economy, technology and society in a systematic way. The Research Directorate-General has particularly been interested in implementing "Regional Foresight" as a strategic module within the framework of a "European Research Area" (ERA) to thus strengthen the role of the regions in European research policy.

In June 2005, learnings from the ERA as well as a first analysis of planned regional activities in the New German Länder were presented at an international conference organised by the BMBF. The conference debated whether "Regional Foresight" can be seen as a viable instrument in the context of regional profile building and innovation management. The aim was to trigger the systematic projection of socio-economical and technological developments and to find ways to optimise innovation management through "Regional Foresight".

The conference especially focused on case studies in border regions of the New German Länder that were realised in preparation of the conference. The term "border regions" can be taken literally - regions at the Eastern border of Germany - but has a figurative meaning as well: it also refers to regions where economic divides cause specific barriers to more development, e. g. a metropolitan area and its surrounding areas. Based on this definition, the following border regions were analysed:

Upper Lusatia Region:
Upper Lusatia is situated in the region of Germany's border to the new EU members Poland and the Czech Republic. As an example of a border region with a rather low level of development, there are a lot of planning activities - some of them transnational.

Havelland-Fläming Region:
The Havelland-Fläming Region is characterised by its proximity to the highly developed Berlin metropolitan area. At present, Teltow-Fläming is one of the growing regions in the New German Länder.

South Thuringia Region: 
The key question for South Thuringia, which borders the Länder of Hesse and Bavaria, is: Can the proximity to these West German regions be used to improve regional innovation development?

Representatives from the regions named above as well as from other European "Foresight" initiatives presented their views at the conference. The EU level was represented by the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission. Scientific experts and practitioners from the regions reflected upon the methods used and discussed what "Regional Foresight" instruments can contribute to overcoming regional development barriers.

• Programme
• THE INITIATIVES
• Background