Benchmarking Regional Structure Rev. 2013

Finding reference regions based on structural similarities

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A key to build sound innovation strategies for smart specialisation at the regional level is to identify opportunities for learning policy lessons and transferring practices from other regions. But what are the regions one should consider as a reference for these purposes? Our proposal is to start by identifying regions that share similar structural conditions which are relevant for innovation-driven development (social, economic, technological, institutional and geographical characteristics). That is, characteristics that cannot be easily changed in the short term and that are demonstrated to affect the way innovation and economic evolution take place in a region. Below you will find an interactive tool that allows you to identify reference regions across Europe based on a methodology jointly developed by Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness and the S3 Platform.

Documents
	Methodological paper
	Structural variables & data
	Regional NUTS codes

Interactive tool

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region Burgenland (AT11) Kärnten (AT21) Niederösterreich (AT12) Oberösterreich (AT31) Salzburg (AT32) Steiermark (AT22) Tirol (AT33) Vorarlberg (AT34) Wien (AT13) Brussels-Capital Region (BE1) Flemish Region (BE2) Walloon Region (BE3) Severen tsentralen (BG32) Severoiztochen (BG33) Severozapaden (BG31) Yugoiztochen (BG34) Yugozapaden (BG41) Yuzhen tsentralen (BG42) Kypros / Kibris (CY00) Jihovychod (CZ06) Jihozapad (CZ03) Moravskoslezsko (CZ08) Praha (CZ01) Severovychod (CZ05) Severozapad (CZ04) Stredni Cechy (CZ02) Stredni Morava (CZ07) Hovedstaden (DK01) Midtjylland (DK04) Nordjylland (DK05) Sjælland (DK02) Syddanmark (DK03) Eesti (EE00) Etelä-Suomi (FI18) Länsi-Suomi (FI19) Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomi (FI1D) Alsace (FR42) Aquitaine (FR61) Auvergne (FR72) Basse-Normandie (FR25) Bourgogne (FR26) Bretagne (FR52) Centre (FR24) Champagne-Ardenne (FR21) Corse (FR83) Franche-Comté (FR43) Haute-Normandie (FR23) Languedoc-Roussillon (FR81) Limousin (FR63) Lorraine (FR41) Midi-Pyrénées (FR62) Nord - Pas-de-Calais (FR30) Pays de la Loire (FR51) Picardie (FR22) Poitou-Charentes (FR53) Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (FR82) Rhône-Alpes (FR71) Île de France (FR10) Baden-Württemberg (DE1) Bayern (DE2) Berlin (DE3) Brandenburg (DE4) Bremen (DE5) Hamburg (DE6) Hessen (DE7) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (DE8) Niedersachsen (DE9) Nordrhein-Westfalen (DEA) Rheinland-Pfalz (DEB) Saarland (DEC) Sachsen (DED) Sachsen-Anhalt (DEE) Schleswig-Holstein (DEF) Thüringen (DEG) Anatoliki Makedonia, Thraki (EL11) Attiki (EL30) Dytiki Ellada (EL23) Dytiki Makedonia (EL13) Ionia Nisia (EL22) Ipeiros (EL21) Kentriki Makedonia (EL12) Kriti (EL43) Notio Aigaio (EL42) Peloponnisos (EL25) Sterea Ellada (EL24) Thessalia (EL14) Voreio Aigaio (EL41) Del-Alfold (HU33) Del-Dunantul (HU23) Eszak-Alfold (HU32) Eszak-Magyarorszag (HU31) Kozep-Dunantul (HU21) Kozep-Magyarorszag (HU10) Nyugat-Dunantul (HU22) Border, Midland and Western (IE01) Souther and Eastern (IE02) Abruzzo (ITF1) Basilicata (ITF5) Calabria (ITF6) Campania (ITF3) Emilia-Romagna (ITH5) Friuli-Venezia Giulia (ITH4) Lazio (ITI4) Liguria (ITC3) Lombardia (ITC4) Marche (ITI3) Molise (ITF2) Piemonte (ITC1) Provincia Autonoma Bolzano/Bozen (ITH1) Provincia Autonoma Trento (ITH2) Puglia (ITF4) Sardegna (ITG2) Sicilia (ITG1) Toscana (ITI1) Umbria (ITI2) Valle d'Aosta/Vallée d'Aoste (ITC2) Veneto (ITH3) Latvija (LV00) Lietuva (LT00) Luxembourg (Grand-Duché) (LU00) Malta (MT00) Drenthe (NL13) Flevoland (NL23) Friesland (NL) (NL12) Gelderland (NL22) Groningen (NL11) Limburg (NL) (NL42) Noord-Brabant (NL41) Noord-Holland (NL32) Overijssel (NL21) Utrecht (NL31) Zeeland (NL34) Zuid-Holland (NL33) Dolnoslaskie (PL51) Kujawsko-Pomorskie (PL61) Lodzkie (PL11) Lubelskie (PL31) Lubuskie (PL43) Malopolskie (PL21) Mazowieckie (PL12) Opolskie (PL52) Podkarpackie (PL32) Podlaskie (PL34) Pomorskie (PL63) Slaskie (PL22) Swietokrzyskie (PL33) Warminsko-Mazurskie (PL62) Wielkopolskie (PL41) Zachodniopomorskie (PL42) Alentejo (PT18) Algarve (PT15) Centro (P) (PT16) Lisboa (PT17) Norte (PT11) Bucuresti - Ilfov (RO32) Centru (RO12) Nord-Est (RO21) Nord-Vest (RO11) Sud - Muntenia (RO31) Sud-Est (RO22) Sud-Vest Oltenia (RO41) Vest (RO42) Bratislavsky kraj (SK01) Stredne Slovensko (SK03) Vychodne Slovensko (SK04) Zapadne Slovensko (SK02) Vzhodna Slovenija (SI01) Zahodna Slovenija (SI02) Andalucía (ES61) Aragón (ES24) Canarias (ES70) Cantabria (ES13) Castilla y León (ES41) Castilla-La Mancha (ES42) Cataluña (ES51) Comunidad Foral de Navarra (ES22) Comunidad Valenciana (ES52) Comunidad de Madrid (ES30) Extremadura (ES43) Galicia (ES11) Illes Balears (ES53) La Rioja (ES23) País Vasco (ES21) Principado de Asturias (ES12) Región de Murcia (ES62) Mellersta Norrland (SE32) Norra Mellansverige (SE31) Småland med öarna (SE21) Stockholm (SE11) Sydsverige (SE22) Västsverige (SE23) Östra Mellansverige (SE12) Övre Norrland (SE33) East Midlands, England (UKF) East of England (UKH) London (UKI) North East, England (UKC) North West, England (UKD) Northern Ireland (UKN) Scotland (UKM) South East, England (UKJ) South West, England (UKK) Wales (UKL) West Midland, England (UKG) Yorkshire and the Humber (UKE) number of peers 10 15 20 25 30 35 exclude same country peers refresh

How it works

1. Select a region in the top window
2. Choose the number of reference regions you want to be displayed
3. Decide if you want to exclude regions from the same country from the results
4. Press “refresh” to get the results
5. A list of regions will appear on the right side of the screen sorted in descending order from the ones that are more similar (top) to the less similar (bottom) to the region selected
6. The order is given by a synthetic index of structural distance (lower value=structurally closer to the selected region) explained in the methodological paper.

The 20 nearest regions to Wales (UKL) (regions within the same country are included in the comparison)	Distance index
East Midlands, England - United Kingdom (UKF)	0.0075
Scotland - United Kingdom (UKM)	0.0112
Northern Ireland - United Kingdom (UKN)	0.0124
Yorkshire and the Humber - United Kingdom (UKE)	0.0135
Niederösterreich - Austria (AT12)	0.0148
South West, England - United Kingdom (UKK)	0.0151
West Midland, England - United Kingdom (UKG)	0.0158
Pays de la Loire - France (FR51)	0.0161
Schleswig-Holstein - Germany (DEF)	0.0173
East of England - United Kingdom (UKH)	0.0174
Niedersachsen - Germany (DE9)	0.0179
North West, England - United Kingdom (UKD)	0.0179
South East, England - United Kingdom (UKJ)	0.0182
Aquitaine - France (FR61)	0.0203
North East, England - United Kingdom (UKC)	0.0203
Hessen - Germany (DE7)	0.0221
Bayern - Germany (DE2)	0.0221
Rhône-Alpes - France (FR71)	0.0223
Poitou-Charentes - France (FR53)	0.0236
Nordrhein-Westfalen - Germany (DEA)	0.0238

Note! Lower index value = region closer to the selected region