Regional Development in Hradec Králové Region

Transcription

1 al Development in Králové Jaroslav Kovárník Abstract This article deals with the issue of regional development in the NUTS II Northeast. At present, this problem is particularly topical in the European Union. Firstly, the article focuses on description of different definitions of the terms region and development. The following section is a short description of basic indicators of regional development in the Czech Republic and in the analyzed region, including NUTS III regions within this region. These indicators are related to science and research, and include for instance the number of employees and the amount of expenses in science and research. This article further shows the possible risks of assessing available aggregated quantitie. Keywords aggregated data analysis, Králové region, region, regional development, research. T I. INTRODUCTION HE issue of regional development is very topical at present. The basic aim of European Union for planning period of is to increase competitiveness of member states (or regions) and become a competitor to the leading economies in the world, especially the one of the United States of America. This increase of competitiveness should be based on production of innovations and knowledge, in other words on creation of the so-called knowledge economy. This is the reason why also in conditions of the Czech Republic institutions appear that aim at both production of innovations and performing basic and applied research. Clusters and cluster initiatives are typical examples of such institutions. Naturally, there are other indicators for evaluation of presence and quality of research in individual regions, such as the numbers of employees in research and development, outlays in research and development, etc. This document gives brief description of regional development in selected region NUTS III, in the concrete Králové in Czech Republic. This description is based on the available aggregated data analysis. The article shows possible threats connected with the analysis of available aggregated statistic data. II. OVERVIEW OF BASIC DEFINITIONS A. Definitions of the Firstly, we have to state the generally used definitions of Manuscript received September 27, J. Kovárník is with the Department of Economics, Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Králové, Rokitanského 62, Králové, Czech Republic ( jaroslav.kovarnik@uhk.cz). the region. Maier and Tödtling [4, 5] define region as a subnational unit as a part of one state or one national economy separated from other areas with formal boundaries and connected with other areas with economical barriers. Skokan [6] defines region as an area with specific elements, specific functional and related infrastructure, and common interest on regional development and on increasing of prosperity of inhabitants. The law on regional development support No. 248/2000 [12] declares a region as a territorial unit defined by administrative boundaries of countries, districts, municipalities, or association of municipalities, which is supported in terms of its development. This article focuses on the development in the region NUTS III, region Králové, in comparison with regions Pardubice and Liberec, and in comparison with region NUTS II Northeast. NUTS II Northeast includes all three mentioned regions NUTS III. B. Definitions of the al Development This term could be understood as economical development of some territorial unit (region). At present, this term means also the socio-economic growth, the activation of territorial development potential, the increasing of competitiveness, etc. [8, 2] Skokan [7] defines the regional development as the complex of processes in the complicated region system. According to Skokan, the system approach is necessary for the management and control of these processes. Stimson, Stough and Roberts [9] define the regional development as the application of both economical processes and sources available within the region. The results of this application are sustainable development and required economic effects for the region, which can accomplish the expectations of companies, residents, and non-residents. The Ministry of al Development created own definition of regional development [8]. According to this definition, the regional development is represented by growth of socio-economic and environmental potentials and growth of region competitiveness, which can increase the standard of living and quality of living among the inhabitants of the region. This process is based on dynamic and balanced development of regional structure in the relevant territorial area and its parts (regions, microregions) and on removal (mitigation) of regional disparities. III. SPECIFICATIONS OF THE HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ REGION This region is in the northeast part of Bohemia and its area is km 2. There are five districts in this region Králové, Jičín, Náchod, Rychnov nad Kněžnou and Trutnov. At the same time, it is part of the region NUTS II Northeast, together with the regions of Pardubice and ISBN:

2 Liberec. This region includes for instance a part of the area of Giant Mountains with the highest peak in the Czech Republic, Sněžka (1602 meters above the sea level), and a part of Eagle Mountains. In spite of the presence of these mountain ranges, this region is fifth in the Czech Republic according to the total proportion of agricultural land. There is a zoo in Dvůr Králové nad Labem, where can visitors go by special bus through the free paddock of animals during the summer months. The most developed industry in this region is manufacturing, followed by business, repairs of household goods, commercial services, etc. The basic macroeconomic indicators are listed in Table No. 1 that follows: TABLE NO. 1 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS OF HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ REGION Indicator / year GDP in current prices (mil. CZK) Share of GDP in current prices in CR (%, CR = 100) Number of inhabitants GDP per capita (CZK) Share of GDP per capita in CR (%, CR = 100) Share of GDP per capita in EU 27 (%, EU 27 = 100) Progression of GDP per capita (%, 2005 = ) Progression of GDP per capita (%, previous year = 100) It is obvious that GDP in current prices and GDP per capita were growing during the period in this region. Although the share of GDP in current prices in Czech Republic is about 4.5 %, the results of the indicator GDP per capita are much satisfactory. According to the Table No. 1, the values of this indicator are about 85 %, which presents the sixth place in the Czech Republic (Prague, Středočeský region, Plzeňský region, Jihomoravský region, Jihočeský region, Králové region). In the following Graph No. 1, GDP per capita in the region of Králové is illustrated along with the other regions of Pardubice, Liberec and NUTS II Northeast. IV. EMPLOYMENT IN THE HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ REGION A. Total Employment and Unemployment The previous chapter focused on basic macroeconomic indicators in the Králové region. This chapter focuses on the indicators of employment and unemployment, which can help analyze the development of the region. The basic indicators of employment are in the following Table No. 2. CZK Králové Pardubice year Graph No. 1: GDP Per Capita Liberec NUTS II The Table No. 2 shows, that the number of inhabitants in the Czech Republic, number of employees in the Czech Republic, and number of employees in the region NUTS II were growing during the period In Králové region, the growth was visible only during the period , while between the years 2007 and 2008 there was a small decrease in this indicator. With regard to the fact, that Králové r. is a part of NUTS II Northeast and the number of employees in this region is growing up, it is possible that inhabitants from Králové region were working in other regions (Pardubice and Liberec) in the year TABLE NO. 2 INDICATORS OF EMPLOYMENT Indicator (thousands of people) / year Number of inhabitants in CR Employees in CR Employees in NUTS II Employess in the of Králové Table No. 3 lists the indicators of unemployment and unemployment rate. TABLE NO. 3 INDICATORS OF UNEMPLOYMENT Indicator / year CR (thousands of inhabitants) NUTS II Northeast (thousands of inhabitants) of Králové 1., (thousands of inhabitants) Unemployment rate in CR Unemployment rate in NUTS II Northeast Unemployment rate in of Králové ISBN:

3 The progress in the Czech Republic is logical. While the number of employees is growing during the period , the numbers of the unemployed and unemployment rate are decreasing, as shown in Tables No. 2 and No. 3. The progress in NUTS II region and Králové region is not logical. Even the number of employees in NUTS II r Northeast is growing during the period , between the years 2005 and 2006, the number of unemployed and unemployment rate is also growing. This may result from demographic changes or from the employment of people from other regions of the Czech Republic. In the conditions of of Králové, there is similar progression between the years 2005 and 2006 as in the case of region NUTS II Northeast. Between the years 2006 and 2007 the progression is logical the number of employees is growing up, the numbers of the unemployed and unemployment rate is decreasing. Between the years 2007 and 2008 the progression is not logical. The numbers of the unemployed and unemployment rate is decreasing and the number of employees is decreasing as well. This could be again the result of demographic changes or due to the employment of people from other regions of the Czech Republic. The following Graph No. 2 compares the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic, in Králové r., in NUTS II Northeast, and in other regions within this NUTS II region (Pardubice, Liberec). % 9,0 8,0 7,0 6,0 5,0 4,0 3, CR Liberec Pardubice year NUTS II Králové Graph No. 2: Unemployment rate progression B. Employment and Unemployment in Research and Development Previous chapter deals with the problematic of total employment and unemployment in conditions of the Czech Republic, NUTS II Northeast and Králové region. This chapter focuses on employment and unemployment in research and development as the possible indicators of development in particular region. The numbers of individuals employed in s of research and development are listed in the following Table No. 4. TABLE NO. 4 EMPLOYEES IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - INDIVIDUALS CR private NUTS II private Králové private Table No. 4 shows an increase in the number of employees in research and development in Czech Republic in all three analyzed s. In the region NUTS II Northeast the increase is visible only in the private. Government is decreasing during and it is increasing only in the last year analyzed. The of has reversed progression it is increasing during and decreasing in of Králové is growing in private and s. The recorded a deep decrease between 2005 and 2006, but in the last years analyzed there is a little increase. The data from Table No. 4 may be slightly misleading because of the number of individuals in research and development. Many of these employees have only part-time job in some scientific and research institution, or work on part-time job basis in more than one scientific institution. It is obvious that the research team has to consist of more than one person to cooperate in research and development and to use synergistic effect of this cooperation. There may be some cases where quality research is done by only one individual, but it has to be a full time employee, who can fully exploit possibilities of his research organization. Therefore the data in the following Table No. 5 are more important, because they list the numbers of FTE employees in research and development. In addition to the expected decrease in the numbers of employees in all analyzed s, there are some other interesting pieces of information in Table No. 5, namely the decrease of employees in in the Czech Republic between the years 2006 and However, this decrease is compensated by a high increase between the years 2007 and In the NUTS II Northeast, there is an increase only in the private. In comparison with Table No. 4, there are some differences in FTE. The number of individual employees in between the years 2006 and 2007 was increasing, while the number of FTE employees in this between these years was considerably decreasing. ISBN:

4 TABLE NO. 5 EMPLOYEES IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - FTE CR private NUTS II private Králové private Liberec private In the of Králové, there is a significant decrease in all three analyzed s. The most noticeable decrease is in the, where the numbers of individuals were about 900 and numbers of FTE employees about 200. This means that a great number of university staff in this region have only a part time job at the universities. There is actually an increase in the number of individuals between 2007 and 2008 in this, while there is a decrease in the number of FTE employees between these years in. In Table No. 5 there are data about Liberec region as well. The FTE numbers in this region have similar progression as in the whole NUTS II region. However, there is an interesting number in in this region in the year The number of individual employees in the research and development is 590, while in Table No. 5 the number of FTE employees is 811. This may be the result of the extreme workload of those employees, who had multiple working duties (especially in the year 2006) or more likely in this case the result of a statistic mistake in the data provided by Czech Statistic Office. After eliminating this error, the progression will be probably different not only in Liberec region, but in the whole NUTS II region. All in all, this hypothetical progression cannot be predicted from the data presently available. Generally speaking, the progression in the number of employees in research and development in the conditions of NUTS II r. Northeast is positive in private, where the continual increase is distinguishable both in individual employees and in FTE employees. The other recorded s rather decrease the number of employees, which in comparison with the growing trend in the Czech Republic cannot be considered a positive trend. C. Expenses in Research and Development Another possible indicator to illustrate regional development in some region is the amount of expenses in research and development. These amounts are in the following Table No. 6: TABLE NO. 6 EXPENSES IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (MIL. CZK) ČR private NUTS II private Králové private Table No. 6 shows the growing trend in the amount of expenses in the in the Czech Republic both private and s experienced a little decrease between 2007 and In the conditions of region NUTS II, the increase during the whole period in the private has the same progression as the higher education in the whole Czech Republic and constant decrease in the. That means that investments in are constantly decreasing in the region NUTS II Northeast, while in the Czech Republic they are constantly increasing. Although the expenses in research and development in of Králové in the private are growing during the whole period , these expenses are only about half as high as in Pardubice region. Moreover, even though the expenses in the are constantly decreasing in this region, their rates are still about four times higher than in Pardubice and Liberec regions. The expenses in the have ambiguous progression, but also these expenses are higher than in Pardubice and Liberec regions. V. THREATS OF THE AVAILABLE AGGREGATED DATA ANALYSIS Žížalová and Csank [10] show a lot of possible threats connected with the analysis of available aggregated data. The author agrees with this enumeration and extends it for his own results declared in the above-mentioned analysis. These threats are as follows: - aggregated data are unable to distinguish whether there is only one research institution or a very small number of them in the region, whose expenses in research and developments are so large that they influence the results of the whole region, while the other macroeconomic indicators of this region show bad results [1]; - aggregated data show significant difference in the concentration on private and public activities in different regions; public mostly focuses on basic research, private mostly focuses on developmental activities; in order to increase the positive effect in regional development, it would be advisable to link the activities of private and ISBN:

5 public s and to ensure cooperation of private and public s in research and development (one possible way of this cooperation are clusters and cluster initiatives); however, the existence of this cooperation in practice is not explained by aggregated data [1]; - aggregated data show only the amount of expenses in research and development, but they do not deal with the purpose of these expenses; equally valuable for aggregated data is the expense in market research by foreign investor with the aim to infiltrate domestic market, as well as the expense in higher-order innovation creation; however, for the regional development is more valuable the second type of investment [3]; - aggregated data do not deal with the success of invested resources, for example the usability of innovations in practice, the implementation of this innovations, etc. [3]; - aggregated data do not deal with the situation, in which the research activities are done by subjects under foreign control, whose cooperation with local institutions may be limited or these subjects may mostly run only activities in market research and local conditions adjustment and not involve research and development activities; - another possible threat to the available aggregated data analysis is the situation, in which the data do not correspond to reality; these errors could be caused by the human factor, flawed methodology or inaccuracy, but the origin of these errors is not important. The presence of these errors is the most problematic. In the analysis above, a situation is described listing the number of employees in research and development in Liberec region in the year However, it is possible to find different values for the same indicator in different tables sometimes, Czech Statistic Office provides inconsistent data for example the number of inhabitants in the Czech Republic, number of inhabitants in different regions, number of employees and unemployed, etc. It depends on decision of the author, which data he will use in his analysis but there is no guarantee, that these data are the right ones. The only possible solution of this situation is to make one s own analysis and research, which, however, is for some indicators almost impossible due to technical and financial reasons. VI. CONCLUSION The issue of regional development is very topical at present. The approaches to its analysis are different; one possible way is to analyze research and development activities in different regions. This analysis could be based on the analysis of number of employees in research and development and the amount of expenses in research and development. Based on the above-analyzed data, we can conclude that in the Czech Republic, namely in the NUTS II region Northeast, and Králové region, there are distinct efforts to create higher investments into research and development, and to increase the number of employees in these two areas. However these efforts have fluctuating trend, although the general tendency shows steady growth, which could be one of the premises for the increase in competitiveness in the analyzed regions. The article notices possible threats connected with available aggregated data analysis. These threats could be for example the absence of data specifying the results of invested resources, which lead to the impossibility of activities comparison, as some of these activities could only improve the access on local market and some of these activities could be about innovating activities to increase regional competitiveness. Another possible threat could be the presence of only one or very few institutions with innovative potential within analyzed region, which can misrepresent aggregated data. Aggregated data are unable to explain whether the research activities are situated into domestic companies with the assumption of basic research, or whether the research activities are situated into foreign companies with the assumption of market and local conditions research. The aggregated data are also unable to explain any cooperation between the private institutions and the public in research and development. Last but not least, there is a problem with credibility of available aggregated data, because of different results in the official published statistics. These results are in some cases wrong. With regard to the stated problems it is necessary to submit that although some macroeconomic indicators (such as GDP or number of employees in research and development) show positive results in the analyzed regions, it is not appropriate to make precipitate conclusions. In order to get the exact picture of the increase in competitiveness in some regions, a more thorough and more detailed analysis is necessary. REFERENCES [1] P. Adámek, P. Csank, P. Žížalová. al Economic Competitiveness. Prague, Berman Group, [2] M. Buček. Spatial Economics. Bratislava, University of Economics, [3] V. Hájková, P. Hájek. Learning s Identification by Unsupervised Methods. Košice, Proceedings of the 3 rd Central European Conference in al Science, [4] G. Maier, F. Tödtling. al and Urban Economics 1: Theory of Localization and Spatial Structure. Bratislava, Iura Edition, [5] G. Maier, F. Tödtling. al and Urban Economics 2: al Development and al Policy. Bratislava, Iura Edition, [6] K. Skokan. European al Policy in the Context of the Entrance of Czech Republic into the European Union. Ostrava, Repronis, [7] K. Skokan. Competitiveness, Innovations and Clusters in the al Development. Ostrava, Repronis, [8] J. Stejskal, J. Kovárník. al Policy and its Instruments. Prague, Portál, [9] R. J. Stimson, R. R. Stoug, B. H. Roberts. al Economic Development. New York, Springer, [10] P. Žížalová, P. Csank. Are Research, Development and Innovations the Key Processes of (Irregular) al Development? Prague, Geography Proceeding of Czech Geography Association, [11] Czech Statistic Office available on < [12] The law on regional development support No. 248/2000. Jaroslav Kovárník was born in Pardubice, Czech Republic, on 24 th December He became his Engineer degree in the field of Economic policy and administration at University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, in the year He became his Ph.D. degree in the field of al and public economy at University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, in the year His major field of study is regional policy and regional development. J. Kovárník is now working at University of Králové, Czech Republic, Faculty of Informatic and Management, Department of Economics. ISBN: