In conversation with EU Commissioner and Nobel Prize winner

Why do some regions grow while others in the same country stagnate? How can structurally weak regions be supported and regional convergence achieved? These are typical questions discussed by researchers and politicians at the annual congress of the European Regional Science Association. This conference was held at the end of August 2024 on the Azores island of Terceira with the participation of the FH Kufstein Tirol. Prof.(FH) Dr. Miroslav Despotovic and Prof.(FH) PD Dr. Christoph Hauser presented their own research and met with high-ranking personalities from politics and science.

THE SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF EU REGIONAL POLICY 

In a keynote lecture, the current Commissioner for Regional Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, reported on both the successes and setbacks of regional policy in Europe. The Commission's objective is to achieve a convergence of living conditions and income situations across all regions of the Union. This was achieved over a long period of time until the financial crisis in 2008 on the basis of investments from the Cohesion Fund. Since then, a convergence can be observed at the national level: poorer nations such as Romania and Bulgaria are growing faster than richer states such as Germany or Austria. However, regional differences within the states are not getting smaller, but are stagnating. This represents a major challenge for the next term of office of the EU Commission.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE USA

Paul Krugman's lecture also dealt with the return of regional divergence and the increase in regional differences in the USA. In his groundbreaking work on international trade and regional economic growth, Prof. Krugman highlighted important drivers for foreign trade and regional economics and received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008 for his research. In his current research, he focuses particularly on the social situation in disadvantaged areas: in poorer regions, such as the Appalachian Mountains, young men in particular are unemployed for long periods and thus remain without prospects. This leads to a division in society and to support for extreme political views.

KUFSTEIN RESEARCH ON AI, CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND TRUST

In three lectures, the two representatives of the FH Kufstein Tirol presented their own research work related to economic activity at the regional level. Prof. (FH) Dr. Miroslav Despotovic analyzed the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence for the formation of a circular economy in a region. Prof. (FH) PD Dr. Christoph Hauser examined the distribution of social trust in European regions and identified possible causes, such as cultural norms and institutional frameworks. In a joint research project funded by the Tiroler Wissenschaftsförderung (TWF), the two researchers analyzed the potential of nature photographs on the social platform “Flickr” for measuring the aesthetics of landscapes.

To sum up, it can be said that, in addition to the timeliness of the topics in relation to sustainability and digitalization, the lectures also demonstrated the high quality of research at the FH Kufstein Tirol in an exotic environment such as the Azores.

Links:

• This way to the conference homepage