How can a collaborative governance model be built up for territorial development?

Abstract

Bizkaia Orekan Sakonduz is a collaborative initiative led by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, in which Orkestra (the Basque Institute of Competitiveness) played a founding role. It was set up in response to the need detected in 2014 through a competitiveness diagnosis that economic promotion policies respond to the reality of a heterogeneous and diverse territory not only in terms of its productive structure but also in terms of its competitiveness challenges. Accordingly, a multilevel governance model was implemented involving representatives from key organizations at local and county levels. Over the last few years, collaborative dynamics have emerged, which have enabled, on the one hand, to deepen the capacities of these people from local and county bodies to be strengthened as facilitators of the progresses in the challenges of territorial competitiveness and, on the other, to generate joint projects about common challenges. The need to create a supporting tool for these projects led to the launching of an aid scheme in 2020.