European and Macro-regional Territorial Monitoring Tool

Scope

This activity shall build up and capitalize on existing ESPON tools, in particular the European Territorial Monitoring System (ETMS)  and the Baltic Sea Region Territorial Monitoring System (BSR-TeMo)  and contribute to further developing and improving an interactive and user-friendly ESPON Toolbox  in the framework of the Single Operation under the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme.

This service contract is aimed at developing a web tool that provides territorial evidence to stakeholders and policymakers in Europe and in particular on  the Baltic Sea, Danube, Alpine and Adriatic-Ionian macro-regions on key development trends over time and on the progress, implementation and contribution of policy objectives as defined in the EU macro-regional strategies and in the VASAB Long-Term Perspective.

The macro-regional dimension is considered as especially important to include due to the innovative nature of macro-regional strategies in territorial cooperation and cohesion. This innovation is actively being promoted and supported by the European Commission; for example, through its integration within the Common Provisions Regulation for the ESIF framework 2014-2020 and by the overall support from INTERACT.

The tool developed in the framework of this service contract will be deployed and made available via the ESPON website and establish a direct link to the ESPON Database  through web services.

Main outcomes envisaged:

The main outcome of this activity should be a simple and highly communicative web tool covering the entire Europe and in particular the four EU macro-regions and providing evidence on key development trends over time and on the progress, implementation and contribution to policy objectives including:

• Monitoring modules for five distinct geographic areas (four EU macro-regions: Baltic Sea, Danube, Alpine and Adriatic-Ionian and Europe) focused on European and macro- regional development trends, policies and actions that will be monitored with different sets of indicators. The European set of indicators should also be made available for the geographies of the four macro-regions.
• Data, maps, graphs and other resources as the main input for territorial monitoring.
• Analytical and interactive features that help to monitor, analyse, understand and explain the territorial development processes and trends.
• Short reports or articles on specific themes to be selected by the stakeholders (3 reports per monitoring module) using the information included in the monitoring tool and including a short interpretation of the information provided in the light of the current policy discussions.

In relation to each of the custom-made monitoring modules for the EU macro-regions to be developed, three main components will be considered and reflected in the tool:

• Monitoring of territorial trends and structures over time

This component will enable the identification and monitoring of key trends occurring in Europe and in the macro-regions, their regions, metropolitan regions and cities (and other relevant territorial typologies) in relation to the policy aims and priorities, focusing on the progression of territorial development trends over time.

• Monitoring the macro-regional strategy objectives

Monitoring the progress towards the objectives of the EU macro-regional strategies should focus on gathering and analysing data related to strategy indicators and target values.

In addition, the BSR region needs territorial monitoring in relation to aims and objectives of the VASAB Long Term Perspective.

• Monitoring the activities of the EU Macro-regional Strategies and possible contributions to changes in the macro-region

While monitoring the EU Macro-regional Strategies activities and possible contributions to changes in the macro-region, information from Policy Area Coordinators and Horizontal Action Coordinators on their activities and achievements should be used. Consideration should be given to indicators for policy areas and horizontal actions.

Stakeholders involved

A Steering Committee is established to monitor the implementation of this service contract. The Steering Committee includes the selected service provider, EC-DG Regio, representatives of macro-regions, VASAB and the ESPON EGTC. Other stakeholders in the macro-regions can also be invited to Steering Committee meetings as observers.

The main focus of the Steering Committee will be selection of indicators, maps, graphs and typologies. The Committee will give the developers and the ESPON EGTC constant feedback for the development of the tool from a user point of view throughout the project duration.

Contractors

• MCRIT SL – Spain (lead contractor)
• METIS GmbH - Austria
• HYPPERTECH SA - Greece

Budget: € 630.789,94

Lifetime: December 2017 (final awarding letter) – February 2020 (final report)

Deliveries

• Inception delivery: 09 April 2018
• Interim delivery: 09 August 2018
• Second Interim Delivery: 27 March 2020
• Draft final delivery: 18 May 2020
• Final delivery: 12 June 2020

Contact

Sandra Di Biaggio (Senior Project Expert) [email protected], 

Johannes Kiersch (Financial Expert) [email protected]