Innovation Gaps, Bridges and Territorial Cooperation

The innovation gap is a critical development challenge for European countries and regions. While innovation is a key driver of development, it can also widen the economic divide between territories. Bridging innovation gaps and narrowing divides through cooperation between territories are increasingly prominent parts of innovation initiatives. Territorial cooperation initiatives equally have the added value of fostering innovation by bringing together diverse partnerships and facilitating collaboration across several territories. Following on from the broad overview and coverage of territorial cooperation programmes in the 2023 EoRPA briefing paper “Territorial Cooperation: Widely Pursued, Widely Questioned”, this briefing focuses more specifically on how an increased emphasis on territorial cooperation in innovation initiatives ‘fits’ with the role of territorial cooperation in supporting innovation.

The paper considers both the role of territorial cooperation in innovation initiatives and the role of innovation in established territorial cooperation programmes. A mutual value emerges with territorial cooperation is shown to be important to innovation, and innovation important for territorial cooperation. Subsequent discussion raises the question of whether this is a basis for valuable connections and exchange to narrow innovation gaps between territories or simply a more complex series of bridges over persistent innovation divides?