A region can have strong entrepreneurs, universities, available industrial sites, specialists with ideas, and communities in need of jobs. But without a structure to bring these elements together, they often operate in isolation: businesses seek funding on their own, communities develop individual projects, the education sector is not always aware of employers’ needs, and investors fail to see a clear proposition.

The participants on the second day of the UCORD Summer School in Uzhhorod discussed how to assemble a functioning regional ecosystem from these components. Representatives of regional development agencies from frontline regions, together with experts from the European Association for Development Agencies (EURADA) and European regional development agencies discussed practical tools for working with innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, investment and recovery projects.

The Summer School is organised by the Swiss-Ukrainian “Ukraine’s Cohesion and Regional Development” (UCORD) project in cooperation with EURADA. Regional Development Agencies from Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Odesa regions participate in the event.

European case studies from the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, and Croatia demonstrated different models but shared a common rationale: Regional Development Agencies have to prepare in advance the partnerships, projects, teams, and solutions the region needs.

The innovation ecosystem as a long-term process

Adam Bîlek, an analyst of the South Moravian Regional Innovation Strategy team, presented the experience of Brno and the South Moravian Innovation Centre (JIC).

In the 1990s, the region underwent a complex transformation. Traditional engineering and industrial enterprises were losing their competitiveness, and unemployment reached 12 per cent in the early 2000s. The response was the first regional innovation strategy, jointly developed by the city of Brno and the South Moravian Region.

In 2003, the city, the region, and four universities established JIC. Over the following two decades, the region consistently expanded its innovation ecosystem: developing infrastructure and services for start-ups, linking university research with business, and working with talent, student entrepreneurship, venture capital, international companies, and the promotion of the region.

JIC supports innovative companies through four interlinked areas: consulting and mentoring, access to funding, networking and workspaces. At the same time, the regional innovation strategy encompasses STEM education, technology transfer from universities to business, entrepreneurial skills, openness to foreign specialists, and international positioning.

An important component of this model is permanent governance. The strategy is developed by a coordination group, an innovation council and thematic platforms, involving representatives from city and regional authorities, business, universities, researchers and the civil society sector. Each new idea is documented in a project card, assigned a lead implementer, approved and transformed into an action plan.

An investment site is much more than just a plot of land

Silvano Bertini, a representative of the Marche region in Italy, focused on the preconditions for reindustrialisation and attracting investment during a period of transition or recovery.

One of these is an established local infrastructure: industrial parks, business centres, innovation hubs and other venues for local entrepreneurs and investors. Their format depends on their purpose. Smaller sites can support the development of local small and medium-sized businesses, whilst larger ones may be geared towards export-oriented manufacturing or international investors.

The appeal of such a location is determined by a whole range of factors: logistics, energy, water supply, digital and environmental infrastructure, the condition of the land, professional management, communication, and monitoring.

The RDA can manage such facilities directly, participate in a consortium, or assist communities and other operators in preparing and promoting sites. At the same time, a realistic financial model is necessary: investment infrastructure requires long-term management, and its economic returns are not always immediate.

A separate topic is financial instruments for business. European experience encompasses microloans, guarantees, long-term financing for innovation and business expansion, venture capital, public incentives, and cooperation with development banks. It is important for the RDAs to understand these opportunities and help entrepreneurs navigate them.

The speaker also outlined a list of services that the agency can provide: investment guides and site maps, investor support, and advice on digitalisation, cyber security, certification, exports, technological development, and finding partners.

Support for entrepreneurs should be accessible

Daniel Janeiro, Head of External Relations & Strategic Projects at Alentejo Regional Development Agency (ADRAL) in Portugal, spoke about the work with small and medium-sized enterprises in a sparsely populated and geographically dispersed region.

ARDRAL is developing a network of decentralised advisory services. Its specialists regularly work directly in communities, helping entrepreneurs to structure their business ideas, prepare business plans, identify suitable funding opportunities, and submit applications.

This approach enables support to be provided to entrepreneurs for whom travelling to a regional centre presents an additional barrier. At the same time, the agency collaborates with municipal economic development offices and strengthens their capacity to work with local businesses.

Another area of ADRAL’s work is a regional network of incubators and accelerators. It brings together municipal incubators through shared resources and methodologies. The ÉvoraTech technology incubator works with entrepreneurs through physical and virtual incubation, co-working, mentoring, legal and financial advice, as well as support for entering international markets.

Innovation hubs are also established in the region, bringing together digital services, educational institutions, public authorities, entrepreneurial spaces and large companies. Major employers can set out technological or manufacturing challenges, whilst start-ups can propose solutions to them. This interaction gives business ideas the chance to develop into products and services for which there is already a demand.

RDA as a technical partner for communities

Damir Mirković, Director of the Brod-Posavina County Development Centre in Croatia, presented the RDA model, which mostly works with local authorities, regional authorities, and public institutions.

The Centre has the status of an accredited regional coordinator. It assists the region and communities in strategic planning, project preparation, partnership development, fundraising, capacity building, implementation support, monitoring, and reporting.

CTR specialists remain closely involved with the project at every stage: from the initial idea and needs analysis through to the preparation of documentation, submission of applications, implementation, reporting, and evaluation of results. This model has enabled support for the modernisation of a regional hospital, the comprehensive energy-efficiency refurbishment of 21 public buildings, the development of a cultural and tourist centre in a small community, and the parallel preparation and implementation of 15 school projects.

The experience of Croatia demonstrates an important point for Ukraine: communities and public institutions often have pressing needs, but do not always have enough specialists to prepare complex projects, navigate procedures, manage procurement, and report to donors or the state. In such circumstances, the RDA can strengthen the capacity of many communities and help them operate according to uniform standards.

What this means for Ukrainian RDAs

European examples cannot be mechanically transferred to Ukraine. However, they clearly show several guiding principles.

Firstly, regional partnerships should be established before a specific call for proposals or investor emerges. Authorities, communities, businesses, universities, vocational education institutions, and the civil society sector need to know what joint objectives they are working towards and who will be accountable for the outcome.

Secondly, project preparation requires ongoing work. A high-quality project idea requires needs analysis, risk assessment, resource calculation, partner identification, documentation preparation, and the definition of an implementation mechanism. The time invested in these stages has a significant impact on subsequent success.

Thirdly, RDAs can play an important role in working with communities and local businesses: acting as an accessible technical partner, gathering and systematising needs, helping to prepare applications, organising consultations, and maintaining dialogue with employers and educational institutions.

For frontline regions, these functions are particularly important. Here, it is necessary to preserve businesses and jobs, respond to current challenges, prepare for recovery and seek a model for the region’s future development, all at the same time.

The UCORD and EURADA Summer School provides the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) with a platform for this kind of focused work. Its practical outcome should be priorities for the next 12 months, clearly defined roles to be strengthened, and an understanding of which partnerships, knowledge and resources each agency needs.

Read more about the first day of the UCORD Summer School, during which the participants discussed the strategic role of the RDAs, the EU approaches to regional policy, and their adaptation to the Ukrainian context, in the article on the “Decentralisation” portal.