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GRINCOH - Growth-Innovation-Competitiveness: Fostering Cohesion in Central and Eastern Europe

EU Framework 7 Funding

Professor Slavo Radošević

Dr Julia Korosteleva

Dr Esin Yoruk

GRINCOH is a collaborative medium-scale focused research project funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program. Project started in March 2012 and will run for 3 years. GRINCOH addresses two issues affecting Central and Eastern European economies: the disjuncture between fast productivity growth and poor performance in developing innovative capacities for longer-term sustainable growth; and the pronounced economic, social and environmental territorial disparities resulting from accelerated growth. The project objectives are to:

(a) establish development scenarios for CEECs up to 2020 under different assumptions of political frameworks, institutional conditions and development strategies;

(b) identify the implications for sustainable growth – based on innovation and the development of technological capabilities – and greater economic, social and territorial cohesion; and

(c) advise on future policy options, especially for EU Cohesion policy.

Carried out by 12 highly qualified European research institutes, the envisaged research explores whether and how CEE development strategies can shift towards an ‘innovation-driven process of development’, vital for sustainable growth and cohesion in the current global and European context. The project covers in depth the international context, innovation and entrepreneurship, skills and labour market inclusion, social policy tasks, territorial cohesion, institutional changes, and the shape of a consistent cohesion policy framework at regional, national and EU levels.

UCL SSEES takes part in GRINCOH with the coordination of Work Package 3 ‘Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Industrial Dynamics’ as well as providing expertise in the area of inward FDI (WP2).The overarching objective of this WP3 is to assess science and innovation in CEE with the aim to design region-specific innovation and cohesion policies compatible with the Europe 2020 agenda. Specifically, the objectives are:

• To assess scientific and innovation capacities in CEE and their integration into wider Europe from the perspective of scientific excellence, technology upgrading and smart specialization.

• To explore territorial features of innovation capacities of the CEE economies and their effects on regional growth, via clustering, networking and knowledge diffusion.

• To examine social and institutional determinants of innovative entrepreneurship in CEE, as well as the entrepreneurial propensities of the emerging technology sectors in CEE.

• To explore the innovation policy mix of CEE in view of its suitability for promoting structural change and cohesion through innovation.

GRINCOH Project Homepage