WP4 focuses on the economic impact of digital transformation on regions. It assesses how digital transformations impact regional ecosystems, economies and societies, now and in the future. For six different regions, the social and economic impacts are analysed, building on possible future development paths. Stakeholders are approached to evaluate existing and formulate future strategies. Regions selected for analysis include: Salo, Oulu (Finland), Brainport Eindhoven (Netherlands), Sofia (Bulgaria), West-Midlands (UK), North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) and the Basque Country (Spain). The main objectives are to answer the following questions:

• What are the inclusive-growth related impacts of digital transformation at ecosystem and regional level now and in the future?
• How can ecosystems and regions respond and adapt to future changes and how can more inclusive-growth futures be achieved?
• Where could the EU help and support regions and regional eco-systems in adapting and changing course; what ingredients are needed for a suitable EU strategy at regional level?

WP4 Tasks:

1. Constructing a regional comparative-analytical framework to analyse and assess the economic and social (inclusive-growth) impacts of digital transformation at regional level, with a focus on Industrie 4.0 and digital platforms.
2. Describe and analyse the impact of digital transformation on inclusive-growth for six regional cases across the EU over the last 10 years, by a. building an evidence-base of data, facts and figures, and b. analysing and explaining the impact of digital transformation on inclusive growth for each regional case.

Based on the framework developed in the previous tasks, task 4.3 looks ahead in time. The aim is to draw potential pathways for future ecosystem development and to analyse the necessary conditions/ requirements and possible options for achieving inclusive-growth futures.

Contact person:
Dr. Ronald Dekker at email ronald.dekker@tno.nl

Leading partner:
University of the Basque Country - Sinnergiak Social Innovation, Basque Country - Spain

The rest of the partners:
Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick, UK
Technische Universität Dortmund, Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund (sfs) (TUDO), Germany
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), London, UK
Department of Social Research, University Of Turku, Finland

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