Abstract
The article explores opportunities for the sustainable economic development of coastal territories in the Baltic Sea region (BSR) arising in blue economy sectors in the framework of digital transformation. The study argues that more active commercialisation of territorial resources can facilitate the sustainable economic development of the BSR coastal territories, following digitally-driven innovations. The paper provides an overview of methodological approaches to territorial sustainability. It also assesses the 2009—2018 level of the socio-economic development of the BSR coastal territories, underpins the importance of the blue economy and highlights the role of digital transformation in reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the BSR through digitally-driven innovations. A comparative and problem-targeted statistics analyses show significant differences in the dynamics of socio-economic development in the BSR coastal territories with their GRP per capita being generally lower than the national or macroregional average. A review of literature on sustainable development in the BSR has shown that a more active use of the unique resources of coastal territories along with a technology-driven growth of the blue economy sectors can counterbalance the negative impact of the uneven development of these territories on the progress towards the SDGs in the BSR. Increasing the competitiveness of the BSR coastal territories requires investment in digital solutions in the blue economy sectors and building communication infrastructure. The review of key innovations in the blue economy sectors shows that their implementation gives impetus to other industries by reducing costs, creating new jobs, and improving the quality of products and services.
Highlights
The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) comes into focus of research for many reasons, including the border position of its member countries and regions [1; 2; 3], their coastal location [4; 5] and long historical ties [6]
The EU defines coastal regions as units of the NUTS 3 level, whereas this paper considers units of the NUTS 2 level and in some cases NUTS 1, since it is this level that is formally comparable to the Russian Baltic regions — the Kaliningrad region, Leningrad region and St
A detailed overview of digital technologies and innovative solutions created on their basis in the blue econo my sectors, presented in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report30, indicates that their implementation can significantly increase the sustainability of the economic development in the BSR
Summary
The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) comes into focus of research for many reasons, including the border position of its member countries and regions [1; 2; 3], their coastal location [4; 5] and long historical ties [6]. Special attention is paid to the issues of sustainable development, often viewed together with the blue econo my — the use of marine resources aimed to ensure economic growth, improve the living and working conditions of the population, as well as the state of the ocean ecosystem1 [see. Business trips, physical presence in the workplace and real-life communication with clients, colleagues, partners turned out to be impossible, many enterprises faced the choice of either leaving the market or adapting to the new conditions The latter required the accelerated introduction of digital technologies (big data, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, RFID) and the restructuring of busi ness models to promptly respond to unforeseen situations and reduce costs [27]. The acceleration of digital transformation, as well as the competitive ad vantages that it provides, should be taken into account when developing both national and regional development strategies
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