Competitiveness of the Mediterranean territories

Globalization brings with it economic and social inequalities, but also land, to the extent that the territories have differing competitive advantages. This leads to differences of up to territorial divisions carry political and social imbalances. The question of territorial competitiveness becomes a key issue and a major effect on regional development policies. The territory is indeed a relevant scale for solutions to the challenge of globalization.

Innovation and competitiveness in the northern Mediterranean

Competitiveness can be measured against criteria such as economic performance, political support, business efficiency and infrastructure availability. However, one of the overriding factors in the competitiveness of a country's innovation: there is indeed a strong interdependence between innovation and competitiveness at the macro level, and similarly, the per capita GDP is positively correlated the degree of innovation in the region (which is however not a causation). However, the need to promote innovation is sometimes underestimated in public policy in the countries of southern Europe, as in companies, where the cultural burden on the degree of trust and cooperation among economic agents and citizens, which has a major impact on innovation and economic growth. Thus we observe a line north-south divide in European countries.

Economic prospects of the southern countries of the Mediterranean

Under the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, the priority issue is the establishment of a free trade area that would allow the construction of a large integrated Mediterranean market to the European market. Within this market, the development of cross-border flows should be based on complementary economies: technology and purchasing power in the north; cheap labor south. But economically, the balance of Barcelona is very thin: the slow growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade within the area reveals the weakness of the process of economic integration and trade .

European initiatives in support of clusters: policy choices for what results?

Clusters were often first developed without any public intervention: it is their success in terms of economic performance, which strongly encourages the government today to use this tool in their innovation policies, the active support the policy becomes crucial in the creation and development of clusters.

All levels of governance involved in policies to support clusters: if they are first at national or even regional, if only because of the strong territorial dimension that they contain, the Union Europe is also heavily involved in the policy of promoting clusters, although its incentives are different in nature from those of the Member States.

Diversity policies in support of clusters in the northern Mediterranean-

The case of a French region (PACA), two Italian regions (Piedmont, Lombardy), two regions of Spain (Basque Country, Murcia) and Greece

The regions covered in this discussion reflect the diversity of policies to support clusters in Europe and their impact on the development of the latter. This plurality both policy clusters can be attributed to several factors.

The organization of the state plays a decisive role: whether the State is unitary, that is to say, centralized or federal-type, with regions enjoying considerable autonomy, policies to support clusters will be more important at the national or regional level, although both types can co-exist.

Clusters and the merits of international cooperation

The concept of clusters, commonly associated with a key driver of growth and business competitiveness, became pregnant in the economy and public policy. Since the late 1990s and even earlier for some areas, clusters of courses have increased, relayed by a politician keen to support and strengthen a movement born out of its institutional bodies. Today, clusters further strengthen the principle of open innovation on which they sit by opening up to international and cooperating with other clusters, domestic or foreign.