ESPON Partner States Workshop 11 March 2014, Brussels Dr Kai Böhme Spatial Foresight Potentials and Challenges for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

ESPON Partner States Workshop11 March 2014, Brussels

Dr Kai BöhmeSpatial Foresight

Potentials and Challenges for

Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – and for the European Union

• Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are tightly linked with the EU

• Institutional link • EFTA• EEA• Schengen • Switzerland's bilateral

agreements • Economic links

• Trade• Labour force

Institutional links

…

Smart Growth• Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland

perform better than most EU Member States in relation to smart growth • Energy intensive industries and raw material extraction play a role in

Norway and Iceland• R&D in relation to GDP/capita needs to be interpreted with great care

(different types of innovation ..)

Sustainable Growth• Iceland, Norway and Switzerland generate

considerable amounts of hydroelectric & other renewable energy • Mixed picture for greenhouse gas emissions, however seen per GDP

unit, emissions are lower than for EU Member States

Inclusive Growth• Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland

have a wealthy and highly educated population • Iceland and Norway have higher shares of early school leavers than

most EU Member States

Cities in the Partner States play important roles also in an international or European perspective e.g. in the fields of - transport - economy and business - knowledge and research - human attraction

Cities in EU Member States are at the same time important hubs for the Partner States

Urban Centres & Hubs

• European core hosts more networking regions and many science based areas

• Switzerland and Liechtenstein stand out in knowledge networking

• Reykjavik, Akureyri, Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen are university hubs

Knowledge Networks

Trans-European transport

• Well integrated in the main European networks

• Transit routes an issue for Switzerland

• Maritime transport in Norway and Iceland

• Global airport hubs (e.g. Zurich and Reykjavik)

Cross-border transport

• Well integrated labour markets

•Daily cross-border commuting is important in several Partner State Regions

•Role of regional airports

Transport

• Importance of specific areas argued by Partner States (mountains …)

• Challenges of climate change (avalanche hazards …)

• Potential e.g. in the field of renewable energy

Specific Territories

Avalanche Hazards

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•Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are highly integrated in different types of cooperation

•Access to services of general economic interest are key cooperation topics

•Still various obstacles in daily cooperation

Local & Regional Cooperation

….

Cooperation barriers & potentials

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• Partner States …• are in the European Power House • perform well in relation to Europe 2020 objectives • are diverse

• Partner States and the EU … • benefit from each other• are tightly linked in their territorial development • have various cross-border polycentric functional regions• have highly integrated transport systems which require policy

cooperation • can cooperate on maritime policies, energy policies, …• have joint macro-regional areas

Key findings

Dr. Kai Böhme

Spatial Foresight GmbH

+352 691 87 32 49

[email protected]

www.spatialforesight.eu

Thank you very much for your attention !