1. Results and rollout of the pilot project in Poland
Christopher Todd
Head of Unit
DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Conference on European added value of the Cohesion Policy in the regions
21 November 2017
European Parliament

2. FROM LAGGING TO CATCHING-UP REGIONS INITIATIVE - PHASE 1
A bottom-up initiative to overcome key development bottlenecks and to maximise performance of Cohesion Policy in low-income regions - focus on innovation and growth;
Two pilot regions in Poland: Swietokrzyskie and Podkarpackie;
WB's expertise combined with EC and Ministry's guidance and other knowledge support tools e.g. peer-2-peer reviews etc;
Financed from EC Technical Assistance: EUR 1 million;
February 2016 – May 2017;
Second phase ongoing

3. FROM ACTION PLANS TO FINAL REPORT
February – March 2016
Three interactive sessions with the regions, the World Bank and the Ministry for Economic Development to set action plans
April 2016
Commissioner Creţu's visit to both regions
May 2016
Kick-off meeting with key stakeholders
May 2016 – March 2017
Implementation stage, including monthly steering committees
May 2017
Final conference in Rzeszów

4. ONE YEAR OF WORK TO DELIVER STRUCTURAL CHANGE
Reduced time and cost to start a company;
Implemented e-registration solutions: cost and time savings of EUR 350,000 and 13,020 days / yr;
Faster paper procedures could: time savings of 5,500 days / yr;
Measures implemented without impeding courts' independence
Enhanced technology transfers between public science entities and business;
Design of a single Regional Technology Transfer Office;
Database of R&D equipment with the highest potential for commercial use;
Methodology to calculate annual use of R&D equipment for commercial activity;
Exemplary offer of R&D services;
ProtoLab – a prototyping space for students

5. ONE YEAR OF WORK TO DELIVER STRUCTURAL CHANGE
Improved business support services for SMEs (demand driven voucher);
Voucher system for simple, strategic and group services with different financing ratios and accessiblity criteria;
Independent advisor and online marketplace for service evaluation;
Improved employability of graduates of upper-secondary schools;
Launching a pilot project to enhance work-based training for ca. 500 students;
Incorporating guiding principles for effective work-based learning into selection criteria;
Financial instruments for SME development;
Establishing an in-house financial instrument for the regional government;
Preparing an exit strategy for funds operated by financial intermediaries.

6. WHY DID IT WORK? KEY SUCCESS INGREDIENTS
Resolving structural bottlenecks identified in Country Report / CSR in a bottom-up approach;
Ambitious, yet realistic targets;
Open minds: openness to change "business-as-usual" approaches;
Upfront commitment to implementing results with the OP resources;
Regular (monthly) monitoring by the steering committee;

7. REPLICATING AND SCALING-UP OF CATCHING-UP REGION S INITIATIVE
Pilot projects are developed to be applied across Poland and beyond, address common problems in certain policy fields and provide a valid methodology and ready-made solutions
Phase 1:
Modification of operational programmes to facilitate implementation of pilot-projects and roll-out of the best practice across Poland, dedicated budget: 500,000 EUR;
Phase 2:
Focus on new themes (energy efficiency, decarbonisation, business inspections) and new regions, including more developed ones (Malopolskie, Slaskie, Lubelskie), budget: 1,050,000 EUR, implementation period: June June 2018;
Pilot projects replicated in other countries e.g. Presov (Slovakia), Croatia, Romania;
7th Cohesion Report:
"The lagging regions initiative (…) was an important pilot exercise and its successful elements may be further deployed"

8. Thank you for your attention! christopher.todd@ec.europa.eu
Poland: Catching-up Regions Report available here