With a GDP exceeding €280 billion and more than eight million inhabitants, Catalonia would be positioned at the center of the European Union. Its human and economic dimensions invite better use of the capacities distributed throughout the country, which presents internal realities with a size and potential comparable to those of many European regions that promote their own innovation and smart specialization strategies (RIS3). It is necessary to bring out the endogenous and differentiated capacities of each Catalan region so that, with the involvement of their economic fabric and the support of at least one university, they can become knowledge regions responsible for their own development policies.
This is how numerous leading or highly innovative European regions operate, often smaller than the possible Northern, Western, or Southern Catalan regions. Examples such as Flevoland, Drenthe, Övre Norrland, Nordjylland, and Groningen show how shared responsibility between institutions, businesses, and universities consolidates solid ecosystems of knowledge and progress, based on their own human, economic, and scientific resources.
To move in this direction, two essential conditions are needed, which, at least in Southern Catalonia, are not yet met. On the one hand, the vision and will of the Government and Parliament to promote a true decentralization of regional development policies. On the other hand, the willingness of potential regions to assume their responsibility in this process, through the involvement of municipalities, provincial councils, and universities in regional agreements that regulate decision-making and the allocation of resources. In this way, Catalonia will be able to unleash its full potential in terms of knowledge, innovation, and balanced progress.
