Competitive Inteligence 2.0: Organization, Innovation and Territory

Chapter 15

Regional Development 2.0 ¹

15.1. Introduction

Economic intelligence¹, which was used for over 10 years to increase the competitiveness of enterprises, can be used in a new field, for opening the door to many new exchanges and collaborations. While the end of World War II brought the development of East-West blocs and the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall was the signal for a new era of global competition: globalization. We are entering a period of competition still unknown to date, where the rules of “the game” are no longer stable and can change quickly. At the same time, the development of information technology shortens “time and distance”. This new era increases global instability, with competition taking place between societies, states, and regions. Currently, regionalization is a political way for reducing tensions and increasing the degree of personal freedom. In many cases, regionalization (this happens in all countries) is seen as an improvement and political conquest. But this regionalization in most of the cases is accompanied by a decrease in allocation of financial support by the central government, and therefore requires a major effort to create new resources. It is a major problem, since if these new resources are not created, the standard of living will decrease and political tensions will arise – political tensions that can lead to separatist movements or even terrorism. This will increase the instability of entire regions and will not allow the ...