1 5th Halle Forum on Urban Economic GrowthGovernance systems in Metropolitan regions and their impact on economic development regarding the challenge of providing skilled labor force Corinna Porsche, Technische Universität Dortmund

2 The problem of the lack of a skilled workforce in GermanySince the 2000s but mainly after 2009 the lack of a skilled workforce has become an increasing issue and challenge for regions in Germany The lack of a skilled workforce is seen as a big threat to regional competitiveness Providing skilled labor force has become a big issue for the metropolitan regions The reasons for the lack of skilled workforce : economic growth after the crisis in 2008/2009, the demographic change, structural changes and still a large number of work force being inactive due to care of family members, age or lacking skills or even lacking will Thus the issue of providing skilled work force : It has become an increasing issue on the local and regional level. Local and regional politics and other institutions are paying increasing attention to this problems and taking measures to tackle this problem, no matter how affected this regions are by a lack of skilled work force. Fields of actions are: attracting work force from abroad or from other regions, improving the qualification of the work force and the integration of insufficient qualified work force into the labor market, helping the inactive population due to lacking abilities to get into work (for example by facilitating work-life balance or by improving the health of older workers)

3 The metropolitan regions in GermanyIKM und BBSR (2012)

4 Requirements for the issue of providing a skilled labor forceIs a cross-sectional issue and challenge which requires the collaboration of different stakeholders from different sectors and different spatial scales Handling this issue on the regional scale helps to fulfill these cross-sectional characteristics of this issue and to include all these stakeholders to operate at different scales Assumption: Regional Governance helps to deal with the issue and challenge in a successful way Important stakeholders are the administrative districts (departments of economic development), chambers of commerce/handicrafts, employment agencies, the companies, labor unions, industrial federation etc. -> in this context a high relevance of networks is seen Assumption: a successful handling requires Regional Governance/ institutionalization Um dies besser zu erläutern, bedarf möchte ich kurz defoinieren, was Regional Governanc eist

5 Definition of Regional GovernanceRegional Governance: No clear definition in Germany Is considered to be a form of regional self-regulation with the object of improving regional development Refers to cooperation of stakeholders of different sectors and scales and within complex structures of steering and coordination, which is of voluntary nature and goes beyond individual projects and problems and takes place in certain spatial units (Fürst & Benz 2003, Fürst 2010). Different forms of regional governance in the German metropolitan regions Distinctive Regional Governance Arrangements have been developed in the Metropolitan regions in Germany in order to deal tasks of regional developement and as in respond to the fact that the metropolitan regions in Germany are no administrative entities but functional units Different forms of regional or metropolitan governanc ein the Gemran metropolitan regions harder forms and soft forms of regional governance or instituionalization Hard forms of governance: consits of a legitimized regional instiution, mostly of a public corporation, a large organizational infrastructures and financial resources  necessary for fulfilling formal competences and public duties Soft forms of governance/instituionalization: based on more or less formalized networks, normally are characterized by a minium of insittuionalization, involving regulation systems and the existence of an organizational core with administrative functions

6 Relevant questions Questions What can regional governance/the institutional formation of metropolitan regions contribute to economic development by tackling the challenge of providing skilled workers in the region? What forms of Regional Governance or institutionalization are most successful for dealing with this issue?  Questions are analyzed for the metropolitan regions of Rhein-Neckar and Nürnberg  Research is based on qualitative methods including interviews with important stakeholders linked to the issue of providing skilled work force on the regional level  Based on a qualitative interviews of the stakeholder regional Aus den vorangehenden Zusammenhängen – also einerseits der Präsenz und Relevanz des Themas für die Metropolregionen und der angenommen Bedeutung von Regionaler Governance für Das Thema basieren folgende Fragen: The questions which are relevant for this presentation are Questions are analyzed for the metropolitan regions of Rhein-Neckar and Nürnberg, which follow very different institutional designs of the metropolitan governance and thus also different role of the institutions for the issue of providing skilled workforce

7 The metropolitan Regions Rhein-Neckar and Nürnberg11 different Regional Governance Arrangements from very soft forms of institutionalization (mainly networks) to harder forms of institutionalization (with a core of a planning associations) IKM und BBSR (2012)

8 The metropolitan region of Rhein-Neckar15 local authorities 3 Bundesländer (states) (Hesse, Rhineland-Paletine, Baden-Württemberg) Mannheim, Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen Population (2009): Source: Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar

9 The metropolitan region of NürnbergLand: Bayern Big cities: Nürnberg, Erlangen, Fürth Population 2010: 3,45 Million 34 local authorities Source: Metropolregion Nürnberg

10 The regional governance of the metropolitan region of Rhein-NeckarPlanning association Verband Rhein-Neckar Registered Society Zukunft Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar e.V Chambers of Commerce/Handicrafts Partner‘s meeting Limited liability company Metropol-region Rhein-Neckar Commitee‘s office of the Chambers of Com-merce/Handicrafts Stategic level Operational level Committee‘s Office of the planning association Hard institutionalization, due to the fact that the competences and task of the the metropolitan region go beyond voluntary tasks of regional development, including competences of regional planning Institutional design mainly based on 3 institutions. And a Division between a strategic level and a operational level -the planning association with all the 96 politicians from the administrative districts and municipalities (tasks are regional planning, regionally important economic promotion, the organization of regionally important congress, fair or culture events) -> organized by a committee’s office The registered Society “Zukunft Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar e.V” (500 members of different sectors (politics, economy, science etc.), task is to support regional and non-profit initiatives  strategic platform form for the regional development Limited liability company “Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar GmbH” (the responsible bodies for the limited liability company are the planning association & registered society) operational unit, bundles the projects and measures of regional development > executes projects , supports and coordinates the work of existing networks, initiates new networks, does PR and lobbying  the (big) regional enterprises finance the limited liability company to a large part LARGE operational unit and financial resources , which allow Very high role of the institution for the issue Realization of big projects of regional marketing, implementation of a homepage with information for persons interested in moving into the regions , initiating big informational events Initiation and realization of a large number of projects of providing labor force for particular municipalities and companies Support of the numerous regional networks and working groups dealing with the issue of providing skilled workforce – support consists mainly in providing staff to steer the networks and to do the public relations of the network's work Application for projects of national and european development programmes

11 The regional governance of the metropolitan region of NürnbergThematical Forum Sciene, Economy & InfrastructureTraffic & Planning,, Tourism, Sports, Marketing, Culture Registered Society „Wirtschaft für die Metropolregion e.V.“ Chamber of Handicrafts Chamber of Commerce Commercial enterprises Management circle Commitee‘s office (registered society) 3 presiding members of each Forum 3 presiding members Chairmen + 2 representatives Council Political representa- tives of the 33 municipalities and administrative districts Weak institutionalization mainly based on less formalized network structures, which assumes voluntary tasks of regional development Based on three pillars: A legitimzing core, the so called council, which comprises all political representatives of the municipalities of the metropolitan region A registered society, of regional companies which was only found in 2013 Seven thematic working groups including stakeholders from different sectors, in which networking is done and where project ideas are generated Representatives of the council an the registered society of the regional companies decide within a management circle on strategies, to decide on strategies, projects The governance also has a organizational core - committee’s office – which task is to manage the council and the management circle, to manage the coordination between the committees, to conceptualize strategies, represent political objectives, organize events and conventions, is responsible for PR operational work and does some operations work small organizational core  called The operational capacities of the metropolitan governance of the Nürnberg are little and thus the regional governance in the metropolitan region on the commitment of indiviudal stakeholders, also in financial terms, which are mostly the bigger cities. However, in order to reduce the commitment of the individual stakeholders an to extend the financial resources for realizing projects of the metropolitan governance – until the foundation of the registered societies, the administrative districts had financed the Altogether little operational capacities Due to the institutional design with the small operational unit, but also due to the fact thtat subsidaiartiy is one of the main principles of cooperation, the role of the metropolitan instituions has generally been relatively small for this issue - Direct role for realizing regional marketing and the implemtnation of a homepage providing several information about the region ot attract skilled workforce - Most work regarding this issue come from regional networks, only with little support of the metropolitan institutons

12 Findings What can regional governance/the institutional formation of metropolitan regions contribute tackling the challenge of providing skilled workers in the region? Independently, from the institutional design in both metropolitan regions the regional governance with its “institutional infrastructure” has helped to bring together important stakeholders and thus to bundle and coordinate activities and to facilitate thematically exchange Functions as a neutral level, also to find strategies and measures tackling common problems and issues, mainly for example attracting workforce from abroad/other regions Contributes to raise the relevance of this issue within the region due to its important role for the regional stakeholders Independently, from the institutional design in both metropolitan regions the regional governance with its “institutional infrastructure” has helped to bring together important stakeholders and thus to bundle activities and to facilitate thematically exchange > the bundeling and coordination of activities help to do avoid parallel activities or to increase the Durchschlagskraft Functions as a neutral level (also in the sense that this issue bears intraregional conflicts), also to find strategies and measures tackling common problems and issues, mainly for example attracting workforce from abroad/other regions Contributes to raise the relevance of this issue within the region due to its important role for the regional stakeholder different sectors and from a different spatial scale, like (departments of economic development), chambers of commerce/handicrafts, employment agencies, the companies, labor unions, industrial federation etc.

13 Findings What forms of Regional Governance or institutionalization are most successful for dealing with this issue? Institutional design plays a high role for the success of tackling the issue of the lack of skilled workforce An institutional design, which goes beyond soft forms of regional governance/ a sheer network-based institutionalization and which is equipped with higher operational capacities increases the ability to deal with the issue of providing skilled workforce A stronger integration of the economic sector into the regional governance is a crucial factor for the topic of providing skilled labor force The existence of a public corporation as an element of the institutional structures helps to acquire European and national development programs Institutional design plays a high role according to what can be done at tackling the issue of the lack of skilled workforce An institutional design, which goes beyond soft form/ sheer network-strucutes and is equipped with higher administrative funcions and operational capacities increases the ability to deal better with the issue of providing skilled work It allows to provide the numoerous networks with stteering functions and public relations and thus to make the networks and their work more stable to more efective and thus to enhance the regional thematically exchange It improves the capacitiy to bundeling the regional networks and initaitves Contributes to a high degree to implementing and realizing projects being relevant for the entire region (mainly measures addressing the aspect of attracting workforce) (and cost-intense projects)  mainly of the cooperation between the political and economic sector, to is a crucial factor for the topic of providing skilled labor force >as it is a topic mostly relevant for companies, the integration helps to increase the financial resources > The existence of a public corporation as an element of the instituational structures helps to aquire european and national development programmes

14 Findings However, the challenge is to find the right balance between increasing the operational capacities of the regional governance and thus the formalization of the cooperation and enhancing flexible network-based cooperation The issue is too extensive to be completely handled on the regional level - it would overstrain any operational capacities and financial resources A lot of aspects and measures of providing skilled labor force cannot be dealt with or taken on the regional level Network-based cooperation helps to ensure that only work/projects are being realized which are needed, to respect the principle of subsidiarity and to facilitate the participation of stakeholders However, the more formal the institutionalization of the cooperation is, the more difficult is the participation mainly for those most affected by the lack of a skilled labor force, for example the small and medium-sized enterprises. Thus, the challenge is to find the right balance between a stronger formal institutionalization and allowing a high participation of affected stakeholders.

15 Benz, Arthur und Dietrich Fürst (2003a): Region – „Regional Governance“ – Regionalentwicklung. In: Adamaschek, Bernd und Marga Pröhl (Hrsg.): Regionen erfolgreich steuern. Regional Governance- von der kommunalen zur regionalen Strategie. Gütersloh. S Fürst, Dietrich (2010a): Regional Governance. In: Benz, Arthur und Nicolai Dose (2010): Governance- Regieren in komplexen Regelsystemen, Wiesbaden. 2. Aufl. S IKM und BBSR (2012): Regionales Monitoring Daten und Karten zu den Europäischen Metropolregionen in Deutschland. Bonn

16 Thank you very much for your attention!