A BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE CONCERNING THE PRINCIPLE OF PARTNERSHIP IN PROJECTS OF TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION.
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12 January 2018In a more and more integrated and globalized economy, the cities have acquired an increasing importance, both in literature as in development policies. In a world, where the foundations of economic development are increasingly competitive and global, the innovation and the knowledge make that the traditional production factors already do not provide lasting competitive or sustainable advantages. Precisely for this reason, the knowledge and the capacity of its innovation are currently the two key factors of competitiveness, expressed in processes of concentration or specialization of economic activity, which may be explained not only by the located character of knowledge. In this context, politicians and academics seem to have joined vigorously to new opportunities, opened up by the knowledge (tacit and codified) and by the innovation, particularly in the cultural and creative industries context (CCI), which can contribute to the urban regeneration and economic growth of the cities.
When we think in cooperation between countries, regions or cities, we cannot omit the main role that the 'partnership principle' represents to increase the implementation possibilities and successful management of the programs/projects, co-financed by the European Union. And this means that the partners should ensure that the learning together should be used regularly to adjust the plans and strategies, in order to strengthen the impact of the actions.
Nevertheless, the evidence concerning the 'added value' - tangible and intangible assets – of the partnerships are still not consensual. The city of Coimbra aspires to have a significant positive impact in the Gen-Y-CITY project, and believes that this goal can only be achieved through the collective efforts of many actors.
Therefore, we continue to create the necessary conditions and structures, in order that local development, centered on young people and the ICC, is durable and sustainable, particularly through a varied association of actors and agentes, connected by different types of relationships and different degrees of intensity and by a variety of cooperative activities, able to streamline actively capabilities of places and to absorb and exploit the spillovers of knowledge (internal and external).
The scant attention, paid to the horizontal dimension of the partnership, leads us to ask two questions:
• is it enough to apply the principle of partnership or networking solutions between different actors, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the Gen-Y-CITY?
• how to implement and manage the Gen-Y-CITY for that their territorial impacts reflect the initially formulated priorities and purposes?
As part of our discussions about these and other issues, we believe that our greatest contribution to the Gen-Y-CITY is a successful project, consisting in the 'added value' that we can insert, for:
•• strengthen the networking to solve common problems;
•• support the strengthening of organizational and internal institutional capacity;
•• generate and share knowledge among partners;
•• promoting innovate solutions that can be transferred to other contexts and scales.
In all levels of authority, the partnership became an appellant instrument in searching a more active collaboration, involving forms of ‘up’ and ‘down’ governance to ensure agreater efficiency and legitimacy of policies.
Considered sometimes a panacea, instead of an instrument to be readily used in a daily practice, the partnership presents a myriad of definitions, interpretations and practical applications.
Despite this, the involvement of the 'City of Coimbra' in the project Gen-Y-CITY is based on two main issues:
• The partnership is not a direct potential of collaborative advantage. So, for which this potential can be reached, the diverse knowledge, experience and skills that each partner imputes to the project, should be valued and recognized as essential to ensure the success and sustainability of the joint efforts.
• The partnership is not a simple solution, but facilitator instrument in the creation of synergies that allows carrying out the goals and objectives that will be potentially greater than those which can be reached by partners who work alone.
In this context, we understood the partnerships as the expression of relations mutually enabling, focused on mutual growth in organizational development, the institutional strengthening and, above all, in the obtaining of impacts. Furthermore, we believe that the programs implemented in partnership allow a greater participation and a better investment in the young people.
According to this understanding, it is important to ask:
• what are the main contributions of the project Gen-Y.CITY for the creation, revitalizing and strengthening ties between the city administration and the young people?
Briefing:
•• Improve the perceptions of a positive image of the city (internally and externally).
•• Identify territorial potentials and future challenges.
•• Promote a common and sustainable vision for the future of the community.
•• Improve the attractiveness of the city for creating more and better jobs.
•• Promote and exploit the potential of the ICC.
•• Encouraging private financing of research, development and innovation activities.
•• Strengthen innovative networking forms, collaborative management and horizontal cooperation.
Based on the identification of these contributions, the participation of the city of Coimbra in the project Gen-Y-CITY is based on a set of principles that ensure the quality of its work.
•• Vision and values shared among the different actors and agents;
•• Added value of knowledge exchanges and complementary purposes;
•• Autonomy in the ability to produce, disseminate and exploit knowledge;
•• Commitment to learning together;
•• Transparency and mutual accountability;
•• Clarity of roles and responsibilities.
Far from drawing a complete picture about the involvement of the city of Coimbra in the project Gen-Y-CITY, the goal of this preliminary writing consisted in placing our understanding and positioning concerning the various forms and potential of the partnership, even because the interpretation that each city attaches to the realization of partnerships in different practices and levels of integration is distinct.
Submitted by Karolina Prymas on