European Structural Funds Research Articles

Severity of material deprivation in Spanish regions and the role of the European Structural Funds

Material deprivation has recently affected households with worrying pressure. In order to evaluate the degree of this affliction, we build categories of deprivation with increasing intensity, using the 2014–2018 EU-SILC cross-sectional data for households in Spanish regions. We explore household characteristics and regional heterogeneity associated with the relative risk ratios of falling into such categories. Moreover, the paper assesses whether two axes of the European Structural and Investment Funds (specifically, those allocated to the objective of social inclusion and sustainable and quality employment) matter at weakening such risks. Only social inclusion funds are strongly associated with a lower relative risk of material deprivation. This might be due to a regional misalignment and/or to an inefficient use of the funds.

Firm performance over innovation cycle: evidence from a small European economy

Innovation is seen as a key capability for maintaining competitive advantage, creating value for customers, and capturing a larger share of the market. Yet, empirical evidence on the impact of innovation on firm performance is mixed. This research adds to the current debate on the relationship between innovation and the economic performance of firms. It brings new evidence from a small European economy (i.e., the Slovak Republic). We use a unique data set on 170 firms supported by the European Structural and Cohesion Funds (ESCF). Actual economic data reported in companies’ annual accounts, rather than self-reported information, is used to follow firm performance over a longer term horizon. The most significant finding is that the company’s innovation strategy was a key mediator of capability development and, ultimately, economic performance. The importance of specific innovation strategies varied over the innovation cycle. Simple process and organisational innovations were perceived to be important when assessing the immediate effects of European assistance. Investment in and cooperation on R&D&I became important when assessing firm performance over the longer term. The research expands the current body of literature on innovation capabilities and economic performance. It accentuates the need for a long-term perspective on innovation capabilities. To maintain a competitive advantage, a company's innovation capabilities must be constantly aligned with the changing environment.

S.O.L.E.H. (Sustainable Operation Low-cost Energy for Hotels). Innovative tools and guidelines for the sustainable hotels’ refurbishment

The target of the “Road Map of Efficient Europe” is to refurbish the buildings stock of the second half of the 20th century that is responsible of the 41% of energy consumption - the 2/3 of this consumption are spent for heating and cooling - with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of raw materials. One of the sectors of the building stock that needs an upgrading for what concern building performances and consumption is the tourism, and in particular hotel buildings that often are in a state of obsolescent because they have failed to update to contemporary comfort requirements. The research that will be presented in this paper with the name “S.O.L.E.H. (Sustainable Operation Low-cost Energy for Hotels)” aims to identify innovative tools and providing guidelines for hotels refurbishment within a framework of environmental and economic sustainability thanks to the exchange of know-how among Italy and Greece. The project’s goals are: to identify innovative solutions by stimulating the targeted use of technological tools, to take care of communication for the stakeholder; to make the hotel building stock more efficient and the tourism industry more competitive; to refurbish existing buildings with a view to sustainability and circular economy. The project is a collaboration between Universities of Padua, Venice and Thessaly and it was funded with European Structural Funds. It introduces Innovative and Smart Technologies for the survey, processing and visualization of buildings data, based on the analysis of case-studies from Italy and Greece, and then it proposes a tool for the refurbishment of existing hotel with the support of a communication framework in order to sensibilize stakeholders. Finally, the research concludes with a workshop organized at the University of Thessaly with the scope to investigate alternative solutions of tourism models in order to sensibilize users towards more sustainable and ecologic habits.

Contribution of ESIFs to the digital society development in the EU

COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition of EU economies toward a higher level of digital society development. The European Commission set digitalization as one of its most important priorities for 2019-2024. As both the Cohesion Policy and the Next Generation EU aim to support the realization of EC priorities, in this paper we focus on examining and evaluating the allocations from European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs) to the digital society performance. The research results subverted expectations, revealing that ESIFs spending on ICT does not contribute to the digital society development. This highlights the need for more investment into the ICT to reduce the gap in performances of the EU member states.

EUROPSKI STRUKTURNI I INVESTICIJSKI FONDOVI U ZDRAVSTVU – PREGLEDNI RAD

The aim of this paper is to investigate different aspects and give a synthesized review on the importance of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs) in health, an area that is less studied in previous research about the investments of the EU funds in the EU. Based on theoretical review, the paper confirms that health can be connected with most of the investment priorities of the EU cohesion policy. Regarding the structure of the ESIFs in health, the results of the multivariate cluster analysis show that EU Member States which have higher regional inequalities in health, lower public health service capacities, lower government expenditure on health and lower self-reported health as good or very good direct a significant share of funds to finance health infrastructure and access to health. In the context of building resilient societies, in using different investment opportunities of the ESIFs for health, it is necessary to strengthen other fields related to health, to combine instruments of financing through an integrative approach and to monitor and evaluate the effects of investments continually.

Investment, innovation activities and employment across European regions

This study examines the effect of various forms of investment expenditure (gross fixed capital formation, R&D and European Structural and Investment Funds) on employment across NUTS2 European regions from 2000 to 2016. We find that the effect of R&D is heavily conditional upon regional characteristics. Only in NUTS2 regions with medium to high levels of innovation is R&D likely to generate employment. Gross fixed capital formation is labour friendly, but less so in highly innovative regions. Accordingly, the more that European regions shift closer to the world's technology frontier, the more that R&D expenditure, rather than investment in physical assets, will be capable of generating positive employment externalities. Amongst European Structural and Investment Funds, we find an especially significant effect for the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (in the more developed regions) and the Cohesion Fund.

Higher education and research: multiple negative effects and no new opportunities after Brexit

ABSTRACT Brexit has weakened collaboration between UK higher education institutions and their EU counterparts, with negative implications for UK resources and capacity, without leading to new global strategies and opportunities. In 2020 the UK government withdrew from the Erasmus student mobility scheme and introduced the Turing scheme. While Erasmus had supported both outward UK student mobility and inward movement from Europe, Turing supports only outward mobility. In 2021–2022 the cessation of UK tuition fee arrangements for EU citizens entering UK degrees led to a sharp drop in numbers. Collaborative European research programmes have been crucial in building the infrastructure and network centrality of UK science and in attracting EU citizen researchers, but at the time of writing future UK participation as a non-member country was unresolved. The long uncertainty about this, coupled with the cessation of free people movement, have triggered the exit of some UK-based researchers and declines in UK researchers' competitiveness in European grants, EU doctoral students and established researchers entering UK, and EU country citizens as a proportion of UK academic staff. In addition, the loss of access to European structural funds has slowed the modernisation of UK higher education institutions and reduced their social contributions.

The role of European municipalities and regions in financing energy upgrades in buildings

Energy efficiency in buildings has a central role to play in reaching the climate neutrality goal set by the European Green Deal. With detailed knowledge of their building stock and the profile of their occupants, regional and local authorities can forge an important link between financiers, industry professionals and homeowners to ensure the successful deployment of financial schemes that support the uptake of energy efficiency upgrades. This paper provides a first assessment of the role of regional and local authorities by reviewing relevant initiatives and programmes on energy efficiency. Based on a questionnaire completed for more than 150 schemes, it explores how European municipalities and regions stimulate energy upgrades in residential, commercial and public buildings through public financial support. It is found that 60% of the examined schemes are offered in the form of grants and subsidies, and 45% of them targeted residential upgrades. The use of EU cohesion policy funds in supporting regional schemes, and promotion of energy efficiency investments at local level through the European Covenant of Mayors initiative are also explored. In spite of possible resource limitations at this level of governance, regional and local authorities are in a good position to utilise European structural or research funds to develop financial schemes, as standalone programmes or blended with national ones, thus providing additional support and funds for deep renovations. The results suggest that energy efficiency in buildings has become an important part of local and regional strategies in several European countries, but could be further enhanced.

Regional policies and sectoral outputs in Italy

ABSTRACT We assess the impact of regional policies on the economies of the 20 Italian regions for the period 1994–2016. We adopt a control function approach incorporating the funds’ allocation rules and ascertain the impact of various policy funds in four sectors (agriculture, industry, construction and services) through a multi-input multi-output transformation function. We find that European Structural and Investment Funds have a significant impact on various sectoral components of regional gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) playing the strongest role. Nationally funded regional policies do not have an aggregate impact but affect the sectoral composition of GDP.

Evaluation of an implementation strategy for a World Health Organization (WHO) public health report: The implementation of the International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury (IPSCI) in Romania

Aim: This paper aims to evaluate a strategy for the implementation of public health policy recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report “International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury” in Romania. More specifically, it seeks to: a) evaluate implementation actions with a focus on a number of people reached and status of completion at 12 months follow-up; b) describe implementation activities undertaken in the course of one year, and; c) evaluate perceived barriers and facilitators of implementation at 12 months follow-up. Methods: A cross-sectional design was adopted with two surveys administered in 2014/15 among key implementers in Romania. The questionnaires contained open-ended, multiple choice and 5-point Likert scale questions. Results on the implementation status, implementation activities performed and self-reported barriers and facilitators were analysed and reported using descriptive statistics. Results: Implementation completion rate was 75%, with 4390 persons directly or indirectly benefiting from the implementation-related activities listed in the final implementation plan reporting. A broad range of implementation experiences was reported. Most common activity types were delivery of services, technical trainings, implementation coordination and development meetings. Most useful tools and processes were the Romanian language version summary of the report, educational meetings, and local consensuses processes. Reported outcomes included the direct output produced, evidence of services provided, and individual or organizational level impact. Most barriers were named for the policymakers and academia as stakeholder groups and most facilitating influences for the private sector, with dependence of policymakers on constituency interest scoring highest barrier and the general availability of European Commission and European Structural Funds highest facilitator. Conclusion: The surveys proved to be both feasible and useful tools to expand our understanding of implementation and to supplement the more standard used implementation strategies at country level.

Fighting Fraud and Corruption in European Structural and Investment Funds

Fighting Fraud and Corruption in European Structural and Investment Funds

Determinants of the use of European Structural and Investment Funds

Determinants of the use of European Structural and Investment Funds

Impact of European structural and investment funds absorption on the regional development in the EU-12 (new member states)

Research background: European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) as the main instruments of cohesion policy (CP) in the EU, provide a broad source of financing opportunities for the EU member states. The biggest amount in the CP budget is oriented to convergence NUTS 2 regions that have GDP p.c. below 75% of the EU average. The new members of the EU (accessed in 2004 and 2007) had available 176.3 billion EUR in the period 2007?2013 and 217 billion EUR in the period 2014?2020. Even the absorption rate (in 2007?2013) of available ESIFs is high (above 90%), the real implications on their economies don?t come automatically and they represent the area for examination. Purpose of the article: The research aims to analyse the impact of ESIFs absorption in EU new member states in the period 2008?2016 on their GDP p.c. Methods: As the sample has time and cross-sectional dimension, the panel data in static and dynamic form is employed. The analysis covers the major part of the financial framework 2007?2013 and a part of financial perspective 2014?2020 (depending on the available data). Findings & value added: The results indicate that increase in ESIF p.c. for 1% will contribute to the GDP p.c. increase for 0.0053 to 0.0064 % (static model) and for 0.008% (dynamic model). Although the impact of ESIFs is significant and positive, it is quite (and unexpectedly) small, and consequently new EU member states should not rely too much on them as the source of economic progress. It is necessary that countries should focus on channeling funds into specific segments (sectors, policies) that will result in increased competitiveness of their economies. The contributions lie in creating GDP p.c. determination function; in including all new EU member states; in including more recent available data and by observing ESIFs as a part of growth model.

INSPIRE PROJECT: INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES FOR SMART BUILDINGS AND PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

Abstract. Applying integrated digital technologies for the management and maintenance of the existing built heritage appears to be one of the main current challenges for the definition and application of digitisation protocols for the construction supply chain. Key enabling technologies, collaborative platforms, Big Data management and information integration in a BIM environment are areas of increasing experimentation. In the field of intervention on the built heritage, it is the boundaries and opportunities offered by the integration of many different information sources that constitutes the main challenge. Furthermore, the study of the accessibility and usability of data and information from sources such as the three-dimensional terrestrial survey, existing databases, sensor networks, and satellite technologies make it possible to investigate both different ways of data modelling, even with a view to the development of predictive algorithms, and of visualisation and information management. The study illustrates part of the results of the InSPiRE project, an industrial research project financed with European structural funds and carried out in a public-private partnership by four universities and public research bodies, an innovation centre and six companies, SMEs, large enterprises, and start-ups. Specifically, the project highlights the growing importance of BIM-based modelling as a tool to lead users, both experts and non-experts, through the multiple information paths resulting from the relation between data and metadata.

Innovation versus novelty in microbial systems.

Innovation versus novelty in microbial systems.

Performance management of European Structural and Investment Funds—The case of Slovakia

IMPACT This article introduces a new decision-support tool designed as an optimization model for managing the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). The model was initially constructed for utilization during the 2014–2020 programming period in Slovakia; however, it is also applicable to past and future programming periods for assessments and process evaluations. The application of this model during the early stages of a programming period will provide managing authorities with a framework to set up the targets and desired trajectories of the implementation process. The additional use of the model is during the later stages of the programming period, when it reveals implementation and management bottlenecks and helps improve existing managerial processes. Additionally, the model serves as an early warning mechanism for national co-ordination bodies and managing authorities.

The European structural and investment funds and public investment in the EU countries.

Public investment is low and has declined in many EU countries since the global financial crisis. This paper estimates the effects of the various European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) on public investment in the EU countries. The analysis is run on annual data from 2000 to 2018 using dynamic panel data specifications. Funding from the Cohesion Fund, the EU’s facility for its less developed members, has had an almost one-to-one effect on public investment in the short term, and more in the longer term. Funding from the European Regional Development Fund may have had some effect, but it cannot be estimated precisely. Funding from other ESIF funds does not seem to have been related to public investment in the EU countries.

Influence of Ascorbic Acid Concentration on Photoelectrochemical Response of TiO2 and SnS2

TiO2 is already a well-studied photocatalytic material because of its excellent properties such as chemical stability, low price and non-toxicity. However, the fact that its band gap (3,2 eV) allows it to absorb only the UV light limits its use. On the other hand, the SnS2 (band gap ~2,2 eV) absorption range is well within the visible light spectrum, which is more suitable for solar harvesting. Both of these materials yield rapidly recombining electron-hole pairs upon photoexcitation. This recombination can be prevented by the addition of hole scavengers, which increase the survival probability of the electrons. Over the years there have been various efforts to improve such reaction efficiency using different hole scavengers. This work was focused on the influence of ascorbic acid (AA) on the photoelectrochemical response of TiO2 and SnS2 [1].The obtained results indicated that by using an AA solution photocurrents response significantly increases confirming its good hole scavenging properties. Additionally, it was shown that by increasing AA concentration from 10 mM to 100 mM TiO2 photoactivity was not improved while SnS2 photoactivity significantly increased. The photoactivity was determined by using linear sweep voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and open circuit potential monitoring. The interaction of AA and metal oxide was studied by UV/Vis spectroscopy. [1] A. Indra, R. Beltrán-Suito, M. Müller, R.P. Sivasankaran, M. Schwarze, A. Acharjya, B. Pradhan, J. Hofkens, Promoting Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Activity of Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Hole-Transfer Agents, ChemSusChem, 14, (2020), 306-312, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202002500 This research has been supported by European Structural and Investment Funds , Water Purification and Energy Conversion using Novel Composite Materials and Solar Irradiation , KK.01.1.1.04.0001 and Croatian Science Foundation under the project NaSCEnT (IP-2018-01-1982).

An analysis of the absorption rate of EU funded social projects at macro-regional level

The current European context is still characterized by the disparities between the Member States, economic and social cohesion being one of the priorities of the European Union, which is found among the key objectives of European and national policies. The Structural Funds are the most important economic policy measure adopted by the European Commission, and their management, which represents an opportunity for socio-economic development, is the responsibility of all Member States. In the national context, the responsibility for a sustainable local development must be placed on the community, one of the most effective tools for achieving the community’s development being social programs, implemented through social projects. The aim of this paper is to carry out an analysis of the projects contracted under the Human Capital Operational Programme, Priority Axis 4 - Social inclusion and combating poverty, for the 2014-2020 programming period, at the level of Romania's development regions. For our country, the European Structural Funds are the main source of funding of the operational programmes which facilitate the socio-economic development at national, regional and local level, based on the premise that the development of social projects can lead to improved living conditions for the citizens of local communities.

Determinants of the use of European Structural and Investment Funds

We investigate the determinants of the effective use of European Structural and Investment Funds. We use a newly constructed database of the 1024 programmes from the last two programme periods that started in 2007 and 2014, respectively. Our results show that virtually all programmes fail to meet the initial deadline and need the extension period to be able to spend the funds initially allocated. About 45% of EU funds allocated are not used by the initial deadline and a tenth of the programmes end up not using over 10% of the funds. Our econometric analysis shows that beyond institutional framework measures of accountability, law and order, corruption and public officials’ attitudes, education and management capacity are key determinants in the efficient use of fund allocation. These findings are in line with previous work documenting that, as in the private sector, management capacity plays an important role in explaining government efficiency. In such circumstances, implementing measures that help bureaucracies deal with the lack of management skills and processing capacity – such as outsourcing fund management – may improve the efficient use of EU funds.