This Final Report presents the learning drawn by the Project Coordinator and the Project Manager at the end of the EC Pilot Action ‘Regions in Industrial Transition’ implemented in 2018 and 2019 in 10 EU regions and 2 EU Member States (hereafter ‘Pilot Regions’): Cantabria, Centre-Val de Loire, East and North Finland, Grand Est, Greater Manchester, Hauts-de-France, Lithuania, North-Middle Sweden, Piemonte, Saxony, Slovenia and Wallonia.
Key lessons learnt and illustrative examples from all Pilot Regions are presented in the Report, with the objective to inform the enhancement of Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) by all EU regions needing to address industrial transition, as they prepare for the 2021-2027 phase of EU Cohesion Policy.
The EC Pilot Action had the overall aim of helping regions explore new approaches to address the challenges of industrial transition. The Pilot Action reconfirmed the essential relevance for future industrial transition of the innovation-led and place-based approach inherent in Smart Specialisation, building on the specific assets and resources of each individual region.
The key challenges of industrial transition - increasing globalisation, automation, digitalisation and accelerated emergence of new technologies, coupled with the need for transition to a low-carbon and circular economy - are multi-faceted and interlinked. This so-called 4th Industrial Revolution has highly disruptive impacts on skills, employment, industrial sectors, business models and the economy as a whole, yet it affects different regions in different ways. The new paradigm offers tremendous potential benefits of high economic value, but traditional industrial regions can suffer substantial barriers to maximising the industrial modernisation opportunity before them. They risk being left behind – ultimately, even stagnating – in the context of rapid technological change.