The IPL newsletter: Volume 24, Issue 496

Missions and Cohesion Policy: is there a match?

Francesco Cappellano, Francesco Molica, Teemu Makkonen, Science and Public Policy
This paper explores possibilities for cross-fertilization between the mission-oriented approach (MOA), informing the European Union (EU) Missions, and Cohesion Policy (CP). It argues for mutual policy learning between CP and MOA to address their shortcomings: CP faces a gradual erosion of its identity, while MOA lacks a territorial perspective. MOA can offer a theoretical ‘blueprint’ for reorganizing and clarifying CP’s ever-expanding and blurred thematic scope, providing direction to strengthen CP’s result orientation, and encouraging the adoption of ‘whole-of-government’ approaches to streamline CP’s complex governance relationships. MOA can benefit from adopting the CP architecture, which allows for common broad priorities to be adapted to territorial contexts and to regional strategies. MOA could also learn from CP’s goal of maximizing equity and efficiency, its focus on empowering regions, and its redistributive approach for fostering the full potential of all regions to address societal challenges to support the objectives of the EU Missions.

The impact of the 2014–2020 European Structural Funds on territorial cohesion

Francesca Crucitti, Nicholas-Joseph Lazarou, Philippe Monfort & Simone Salotti, Regional Studies
This article assesses the macroeconomic impact of the European Union Cohesion Policy investments deployed during the 2014–20 programming period, with a particular focus on territorial cohesion and regional disparities. We use a spatial dynamic general equilibrium (RHOMOLO) to quantify the direct and indirect effects of the policy investments in the NUTS-2 regions of the European Union within a 20-year time frame. The results suggest that the impact of the policy is sizeable, especially in the less developed regions of the European Union. Accordingly, socio-economic disparities at the regional level are shown to decrease thanks to the policy intervention.

Federal Fall Economic Statement promises to expand Payments Canada eligibility, introduce open banking legislation in 2024

Josh Scott, BetaKit
This article summarizes the elements of the federal government’s Fall Economic Statement (FES) that are most relevant to Canada’s tech sector. Notably, the federal government aims to implement the necessary governance framework for open banking by 2025. The FES also promises to implement a consumer-driven banking framework next year, expand Payments Canada eligibility, and bolster the country’s competition watchdog, as well as updates regarding the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit and the Canada Growth Fund. The document did not include any new details on the Canadian Innovation Corporation or semiconductor support.

Industry Innovation and Science Australia (IISA) report highlights barriers to collaboration and commercialisation

Industry Innovation and Science Australia (IISA)
This report examines barriers for small and medium businesses to commercialise innovative ideas in Australia. The Barriers to collaboration and commercialisation report looks at these barriers through the framework of Australia’s industry structure, industry capacity and capability to innovate, and the efficiency of the innovation process. The report includes advice for the Australian Government on creating policies to grow medium businesses in targeted industries, better aligning small and medium business incentives to encourage innovation, and measuring commercial outcomes and industry impacts. 

$392 million Industry Growth Program open for business

The Hon Ed Husic MP, Minister for Industry and Science
The Albanese Government has officially opened the $392 million Industry Growth Program to help start-ups and small businesses commercialise and grow their companies. The announcement coincides with the release of Industry Innovation and Science Australia's report on the barriers to collaboration and commercialisation, which highlighted Australia's challenge in supporting the scale up of technology firms. Supporting projects under National Reconstruction Fund priority areas, the Industry Growth Program will help expand the pipeline of businesses working to transform and diversify Australia’s economy.

Regulatory Transformation in the Age of AI

Jamie Amarat Sandhu, Noam Kolt, &Gillian Hadfield, Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto
New report from the CIFAR AI Insights Policy Briefs series cautions that current efforts to regulate AI are doomed to fail if they ignore a crucial aspect: the transformative impact of AI on regulatory processes themselves. The brief proposes a novel concept—Regulatory Impacts Analysis (RIA)—as a means to evaluate the impact of AI on regulatory regimes. RIA aims to assess the likely impact of AI on regulatory targets and tools, helping policymakers adapt governance institutions to the changing conditions brought about by AI.