1. The New Swiss Regional
Policy (NRP) and
knowledge management
by regiosuisse, the
Swiss network unit for
regional development
16th August 2010

2. Content
1. The New Swiss Regional Policy (NRP): Objectives and strategies
2. What is regiosuisse?
3. How is regiosuisse organized?
4. What does regiosuisse do?
5. Products and services of regiosuisse
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3. 1. NRP: Objectives and strategies
The Swiss federal government’s regional policy is designed to help
rural, mountainous and border areas to implement their
development programs:
Promote Improve Create Reduce
Entrepreneurship Competitive- Regional
Innovation Employment disparities
ness
Value chains
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4. 1. NRP: Most important features
• adjustment to the globalised economy: regional policy
helps rural areas to adjust to the globalised economy.
• enhance export capacity: regional policy supports
export-oriented value creation systems.
• laws of the market: regional policy takes account of the
laws of the market.
• focus on geographical and functional centres: the
regional centres are the development drivers.
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5. 1. NRP: The core concept: enhance the regions
export capacity
Region
• strengthen those
economic activities that
Export-oriented
Purchase of local products
create value and
Exports (revenues) activities
increase exports out of
the region
Imports (expenses)
• reduce barriers to
innovation and
entrepreneurship
Local economy
• active support of
innovative and Intraregional
entrepreneurial actors multiplicator
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6. 1. NRP: Geographical area of application
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7. 1. NRP: Financing mechanism
Non-repayable
Amortisation & grants
interest  26 mio. € p. a.
Regional
Development
Fund
stock ≈ 0.8 billion €
Addition deposits Repayable
2008 – 2015 loans
 150 mio. €  32 mio. € p.
a. 7

8. 1. NRP: The three pillars of Swiss regional policy
Pillar 1:
increasing the economic strength of the regions Pillar 3:
Pillar 3:
trough direct promotion of initiatives, projects, expertise on
expertise for
regional policy
regional policy
programmes and regional development agencies and the people
and the people
involved in it;
involved in it;
supports the
supports the
Pillar 2: implementation of
implementation of
horizontal co-ordination with other federal agencies pillars 1 and 2
pillars 1 and 2
that are concerned with the needs of rural areas such
as policies on innovation, education, agriculture, the
environment, energy, tourism and SMEs
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9. 1. NRP: Pillar 1:
multi-year programme 2008–15
Thematic Promotion Priorities Geographic Promotion Priorities
knowhow-transfer in export-oriented rural areas incl. border regions
value creation systems (Jura, selectively in the alps)
mountainous areas and lakes
structural change in tourism
regions
market oriented educational and
rural areas
health systems
potentials of the energy sector alps, selectively in other regions
sparsely populated areas in the
exploration of natural resources
midlands, Jura and alps
increased value added on
mainly in agricultural rural areas
agriculture in open markets 9

10. 1. NRP: Pillar 1: Direct promotion of initiatives, projects
and programmes
• Step 1: the canton defines an implementation programme
The federal government does not hand out cash to the cantons on the
principle of equal share for all. No support without innovative ideas and
compelling concepts.
• Step 2: the federal government and the canton conclude a
programme agreement
The federal government assesses the canton’s proposed strategy. Both
parties sign a joint programme agreement.
• Step 3: the canton implements its strategy
The contractually agreed objectives and milestones are the
cornerstones of the collaboration.
 One programme for each canton! (23)
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11. 1. NRP: Pillar 1: Contracted objectives 2008–2011
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12. 1. NRP in Switzerland: Pillar 3: Expertise
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13. 3. What is regiosuisse?
regiosuisse…
• …is the Swiss network unit for regional development.
• …was launched at the beginning of 2008 by the State Secretariat
for Economic Affairs (SECO), Department Regional and Spatial
Planning Policy, in order to accompany the New Regional Policy.
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14. 4. How is regiosuisse organized?
• PLANVAL AG as general contractor:
regiosuisse was established and is managed by PLANVAL
AG; Managing regiosuisse, PLANVAL contracts with different
Swiss and international offices.
• The strategically control of regiosuisse is carried out by the
SECO.
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15. 5. What does regiosuisse do?
The main tasks of regiosuisse are…
• to support people involved in regional policy and regional
development with a systematic, practice-oriented knowledge-
management-system
• to offer various services so that knowledge about the NRP and
regional development can be acquired, exchanged and
enhanced
• to facilitate networking and the mutual exchange of knowledge
within the «regional development community»
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16. 6. Varieties of our products and services
The Internet portal for regional development, www.regiosuisse.ch
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17. regiosuisse-Hotline: +41 27 922 40 88
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18. «Big events»
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19. «regioS» – the trilingual magazine for regional
development
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20. Training programs in regional management and regional
development
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21. Knowledge Communities of regiosuisse (multilingual
CoP‘s and CoI‘s, different subjects in regional development)
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22. Thank you for your attention! For enquiries and
future partnership please contact us.
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