regulatory provisions, regions will be allowed to proceed with their actions without
expecting the national authorities to come up with recommendations.
Other areas requiring supporting actions include improving finance by investigating
financing possibilities and circular tax incentives; know-how and information and
governance actions. Some of the methods to educate citizens on CE are: a forum for
the development of circular economy, a development of a guide for the circular city and
promotion of the sharing economy and special programmes for informing raising
awareness on food waste, promoting guides for improving energy efficiency in productive procedures and the formulation of proposals and measures to enhance knowledge
and information on various issues of circular economy. Governance actions include the
establishment and operation of a relevant secretariat, education and training programmes
and the establishment of an observatory for the circular economy.
The NCES is significantly delayed but is an excellent list of topics to be discussed
as basic themes for a future implementation plan. While the NCES is a significant
step for awareness raising at political, policy and society levels, it should be viewed
only as a good starting point: at this stage it constitutes a pertinent shopping list but is
characterised with more enthusiasm than reality checks. It praises the CE and
neglects its challenges. The conviction that the CE is beneficial for competitiveness
relies on assumptions and contexts (like long-term investments, high profit margins
and local manufacturing traditions) but neglects the significant bottlenecks of path
dependence and finance in the country. Lagging regions, suffering from persistently
low private investments and limited bank liquidity, tend to adopt short-term, survival
solutions. Hence, a prerequisite for the NCES to succeed is a detailed contextspecific analysis of cooperation, coordination and synergies to come up with solutions shifting from a short-termism behaviour to a realistic, profitable long-term
strategy and the corresponding Action Plan.
12.5 The SSS Experience
Since the mid-1980s, the EU has adopted a cohesion policy whereby the less
prosperous regions receive development aid from the European budget to make up
for the uneven consequences of free trade following new economic geography and
new trade theory insights. These transfers have been a major (occasionally, the only)
funding source of development funding in Greece. The way policies were designed
to absorb these funds has evolved over the years, as initially the funds were mainly
spent on physical infrastructure and then gradually investments in a wider array of
investment priorities to include technology, competitiveness and human capital.
In the programming period 2014–2020, the European Commission adopted for
the first time the idea of Smart Specialisation Strategies as an ex ante conditionality
for releasing the ESIF funds. Smart Specialisation is an innovative approach that
aims to boost growth and jobs in Europe, by enabling each region to identify and
develop its own competitive advantages. Through its partnership and bottom-up
approach, Smart Specialisation brings together local authorities, academia, business
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L. Tsipouri et al.
expecting the national authorities to come up with recommendations.
Other areas requiring supporting actions include improving finance by investigating
financing possibilities and circular tax incentives; know-how and information and
governance actions. Some of the methods to educate citizens on CE are: a forum for
the development of circular economy, a development of a guide for the circular city and
promotion of the sharing economy and special programmes for informing raising
awareness on food waste, promoting guides for improving energy efficiency in productive procedures and the formulation of proposals and measures to enhance knowledge
and information on various issues of circular economy. Governance actions include the
establishment and operation of a relevant secretariat, education and training programmes
and the establishment of an observatory for the circular economy.
The NCES is significantly delayed but is an excellent list of topics to be discussed
as basic themes for a future implementation plan. While the NCES is a significant
step for awareness raising at political, policy and society levels, it should be viewed
only as a good starting point: at this stage it constitutes a pertinent shopping list but is
characterised with more enthusiasm than reality checks. It praises the CE and
neglects its challenges. The conviction that the CE is beneficial for competitiveness
relies on assumptions and contexts (like long-term investments, high profit margins
and local manufacturing traditions) but neglects the significant bottlenecks of path
dependence and finance in the country. Lagging regions, suffering from persistently
low private investments and limited bank liquidity, tend to adopt short-term, survival
solutions. Hence, a prerequisite for the NCES to succeed is a detailed contextspecific analysis of cooperation, coordination and synergies to come up with solutions shifting from a short-termism behaviour to a realistic, profitable long-term
strategy and the corresponding Action Plan.
12.5 The SSS Experience
Since the mid-1980s, the EU has adopted a cohesion policy whereby the less
prosperous regions receive development aid from the European budget to make up
for the uneven consequences of free trade following new economic geography and
new trade theory insights. These transfers have been a major (occasionally, the only)
funding source of development funding in Greece. The way policies were designed
to absorb these funds has evolved over the years, as initially the funds were mainly
spent on physical infrastructure and then gradually investments in a wider array of
investment priorities to include technology, competitiveness and human capital.
In the programming period 2014–2020, the European Commission adopted for
the first time the idea of Smart Specialisation Strategies as an ex ante conditionality
for releasing the ESIF funds. Smart Specialisation is an innovative approach that
aims to boost growth and jobs in Europe, by enabling each region to identify and
develop its own competitive advantages. Through its partnership and bottom-up
approach, Smart Specialisation brings together local authorities, academia, business
214
L. Tsipouri et al.